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The area includes two fully-licensed public houses, and on 8th November, 1927,
the Council decided to enter into agreements with the respective owners for the reinstatement
of the premises on other sites in the area on the basis of an exchange of
freeholds and the payment by the Council in each case of a sum of £7,500 towards
the cost of building new premises.
It has been decided, at the suggestion of the Minister of Health and the Minister
of Transport, to set back the frontages of the dwellings to be erected in Ossulstonstreet
so as to permit of the widening of that thoroughfare to a width of 30 feet from
the centre of the existing street, should it be decided to carry out the widening at
a later date.
China walk,
etc. scheme
A scheme was made by the Council in 1925 for dealing with four unhealthy
areas known as (1) the China-walk area, Lambeth; (ii.) the Hatfield-street and
Hankey-place areas, Southwark ; and (iii.) the Wyndham-road area, Camberwell.
The Council proposed as an integral part of the scheme to acquire for rehousing
purposes certain lands, about 4 acres in extent, adjoining the Wyndham-road area and
also a small site in Hankey-place, Southwark, but the Minister of Health objected,
on legal grounds, to the inclusion of these properties in the clearance scheme. A
favourable opportunity having offered, the Council acquired the former property by
agreement under Part III. of the Housing Act, 1925, for the purpose of erecting
dwellings to be appropriated in due course for rehousing purposes. The site in
Hankey-place to which reference is made below was subsequently also acquired by
agreement. The scheme was confirmed by the Minister of Health on 2nd May, 1927,
with the omission of the properties referred to above. The scheme, as confirmed by
the Minister, requires accommodation to be provided for 3,350 persons, of whom not
fewer than 2,200 are to be accommodated within the areas included in the scheme,
leaving a balance of accommodation for 1,150 persons to be provided elsewhere.
Accommodation for 958 persons is being provided on Kennings Estate, Kennington,
and the Council decided on 31st May, 1927, that the whole of this accommodation
should be appropriated to the China-walk, etc., scheme.
Wyndham
road site.
The name Comber estate has been selected for the new dwellings to be erected
on the Wyndham-road area and the adjoining 4 acres of land acquired under Part III.
of the Act of 1925. The Council, on 26th July, 1927, approved a capital estimate of
£22,390 for the erection of the first block of these dwellings, and accepted the tender
of Mr. A. T. Rowley, amounting to £20,490, for the building work. The building, to
be known as Moffat House, will contain 42 tenements of the normal type with accommodation
for 254 persons.
Hankeyplace
site.
The property covering the site, about half-an-acre in extent, at Hankey-place,
Southwark, which, as mentioned above, was omitted from the China-walk, etc.,
scheme, as confirmed by the Minister of Health, comprises a billiards hall (about
J acre) and a disused burial ground (about £ acre). The property adjoins Tabardgarden
estate, and it was very desirable that the Council should acquire it, as it
might, if it passed into other hands, seriously affect the amenities of that estate.
The owners were prepared to sell for £4,500, and the Council, on 13th December, 1927,
approved a capital estimate of £5,000 for the purchase, including incidental
costs.
Church Army Housing, Limited, were desirous of developing the site of the
billiards hall for the erection of working-class dwellings, and were prepared to take
a lease of the site in question at a rent of £100 a year, which represented the value of
the land for housing purposes. The Council accordingly decided to enter into an
arrangement with the society on these lines. A similar arrangement, securing the
clearance of a small insanitary area and the re-development of the site for housing
purposes at small cost to public funds, was concluded with the same society, in
connection with the development of the Weston-street site, Southwark, at the other
extremity of Tabard-garden estate.