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187
1925. The scheme, which was confirmed by the Minister of Health on 5th February
1926, provides that accommodation for 1,927 persons, which is equivalent to the
number to be displaced, shall be provided on certain specified portions of the cleared
site. As the area adjoins an existing housing estate, known as Hughes Fields estate
this name has been selected for the area when reconstructed, and the two estates will
be combined for administrative purposes.
The Council on 12th October, 1926, approved a capital estimate of £32,072 for
the erection of the first two blocks of dwellings to be erected on the estate, to be
known as Blake House and Hawkins House. The dwellings will contain 67 tenements
comprising 198 rooms, with accommodation for 396 persons. The tender of
J. E. Billings and Company, Limited, amounting to £34,980, for the building work,
was accepted, and at the end of "the year the concrete foundations for Blake House
had been completed, and the brickwork commenced.
There are three licensed premises on the area. A proposal to deal with one
of them by offering the owners an alternative site on the Council's housing estate
at Downham had to be abandoned, owing to the refusal of the licensing justices to
sanction the removal of the licence. It is hoped that the two other licences may be
dealt with as redundant and referred to the compensation authority under the Licensing
Act.
The scheme includes four houses which the owners desired for the extension
of their works. The houses being situated on the border of the area were not
essential to the scheme, and on 14th December, 1926, the Council decided to permit
the owners to retain the major portion of the site, on condition that they demolished
the houses when they became vacant and paid to the Council a sum of £400 towards
the loss involved in providing rehousing accommodation for the persons
displaced.
The scheme made by the Council in 1925 for dealing with the Ossulston-street
area, St. Pancras, 8 acres, was confirmed by the Minister of Health on 27th April,
1926. The execution of the scheme will involve the displacement of about 2,557
persons, and the confirming order requires that rehousing accommodation for not
fewer than that number shall be provided within the area. A large proportion of the
property included in the scheme has been acquired and the question of the redevelopment
of the area was under consideration at the end of the year.
Ossulston-
street
scheme
A scheme was made by the Council in 1925 for dealing with four unhealthy
areas known as (i) the China-walk area, Lambeth, (ii) the HatfieId-street and Hankeyplace
areas, Southwark, and (iii) the Wyndham-road area, Camberwell. The scheme
was duly submitted to the Minister of Health for confirmation and a public local
inquiry lasting five days was held into the proposals between 19th and 25th November,
1925. The scheme presented several points of difficulty and at the end of 1926
the final decision of the Minister was still awaited.
China-walk,
Hatfield-
street and-
Wyndham
road scheme
The Council included in the scheme for rehousing purposes certain lands, about
4 acres in extent, adjoining the Wyndham-road area and a small site in Hankey-place.
Southwark. but as they did not form part of the unhealthy areas the Minister intimated
that he could not see his way to allow them to be retained in the scheme. The former
property consisted of three sites, between Camberwell New-road and Wyndham-road,
Camberwell, comprising in one case parts of gardens and in the other cases the sites of
small cottages with large gardens. In view of the Minister's objection, which was
based purely on legal grounds, the Council decided on 21st December, 1926, to acquire
this property, under Part III. of the Housing Act, 1925, instead of under the clearance
scheme, with the object of providing dwellings to be appropriated in due
course for rehousing purposes. The total cost of the acquisition of all interests,
making good the boundaries, etc., is estimated not to exceed £21,000, which is the
same figure as would have applied if the property were acquired under the
clearance scheme.