View report page

179
When deciding to embark on this new housing work, which it is anticipated
will soon assume considerable proportions, the Council thought it well to defer
the development of most of the remainder of its large estate at Becontree, Essex,
so far as the erection by the Council of houses for letting was concerned. This
decision is referred to under "Becontree" below.
The rehousing of the poorer people displaced by clearance schemes presents serious
difficulties and various methods are being employed to meet their needs. Dwellings
of a simplified type of planning with normal finish and others of normal planning
with a reduced standard of finish are being provided by the Council to be let at lower
rents than those usually charged for the normal type of dwellings. Particulars
of the simplified type of planning are given in the Annual Report for 1925 (vol. III.,
pp. 189-90). As a further measure for dealing with the problem of providing suitable
accommodation for the poorer class of tenants the Council on 24th July, 1928, also
approved a proposal for the acquisition of limited amounts of existing house property
for rehousing persons displaced from slum clearance or other areas. Something has
already been done in this direction, and further blocks of property are being considered
with a view to their utilisation for this purpose.
Particulars of housing schemes carried out or in progress of execution by the
Council during the vear under Part III. of the Housing Act. 1925. are as follows:—
The estate known as Becontree, situated in the County of Essex, between
Chadwell Heath on the north and Ripple-road on the south, comprises about 2,770
acres, and was purchased with the aid of compulsory powers obtained in 1920.
The development of the estate is being carried out by C. J. Wills and Sons, Limited,
on a cost basis with a variable fee to the contractor. This type of contract termed
a "value-cost" contract, is described later (see St. Helier estate, p. 184). About twothirds
of the area of the estate which is available for the erection of houses, namely, the
portions in the borough of Ilford and the urban district of Dagenham, has been or is
being developed. No development of the portion of the estate in the urban district of
Barking Town has so far been undertaken as no drainage facilities have hitherto
been available in that area. This difficulty will not be removed as regards the
portion west of Gale-street until the arrangements contemplated in the London
County Council (Ilford and Barking Drainage) Bill, 1928, for carrying the sewage
from those areas into the London system are made, and these cannot be carried
into full effect before the end of 1930. Arrangements are, however, being made for
the portion of the estate in the Barking area immediately adjoining the Dagenham
area (i.e., east of Gale-street) to be permanently drained into the Dagenham
sewerage system.
Becontree.
Of the houses which have been completed at Becontree, the majority have been
let to families removing from the county of London. Many of these moved to Becontree,
particularly in the earlier stages of its development, because it was the only
estate upon which they could find accommodation reasonably suited to their needs
and in spite of the fact that some extra time and expense in travelling were involved.
During the winter of 1927-28 some difficulty was experienced in letting the full
number of houses of the larger types on the estate, and although the number of
empty houses subsequently fell, it appeared that the production of houses of this type
at the estate had for the time overtaken the demand.
Having regard to the foregoing considerations the Council came to the conclusion,
that it was desirable that time should be afforded for the estate to consolidate and
settle down and for industry to become established in that district, and that an opportunity
should be given for mixed development of the estate and particularly the
provision by private enterprise of a number of houses for sale. It was accordingly
decided on 24th July, 1928, that the development of the portion of the estate in the
Barking Town urban district to the west of Gale-street should be deferred so far as
the erection by the Council of houses for letting was concerned.