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172
Becontree.
(ii) there must be a reasonable expectation of a sufficient demand from
such persons for the new dwellings proposed to be erected on the site.
(iii) The number of persons to be displaced by the scheme must be small
relatively to the number who could be accommodated in the new dwellings.
(iv) The estimated cost of the site and of the new dwellings proposed to be
erected thereon, together with the estimated loss, must be such as may be
considered reasonable, having regard to the policy of the Council.
(v) The site must be free from any town planning or other considerations
which would render it inexpedient to erect block dwellings thereon.
Up to 31st December, 1929, the Council had selected ten appropriate sites, with
a total area of about 65 acres, upon which 2,896 tenements with about 10,000 rooms
can be erected.
Particulars of the sites are given on pp. 177-178.
Particulars of housing schemes carried out or in process of execution by the
Council during the year 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, was described in the Annual Report for 1928 (Vol. Ill,
p. 184). About two-thirds 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 almost completely developed.
To enable the development of the portion of Becontree east of Gale-street in
the Barking Town Urban District to be proceeded with, the Council on 26th February,
1929, decided to enter into an agreement with the Barking Town Urban District
Council for that portion of the estate (to be known as the Barking (No. 12)
section) to be permanently drained into the Dagenham sewerage system. The
agreement provided for the payment to the District Council of a lump sum of £9,250.
The sewage from the main portion of Becontree in the Barking area will be taken
into the London system, but this arrangement cannot be carried into full effect until
towards the end of 1930. The Council on 26th February and 30th July, 1929,
approved capital estimates, amounting to £779,000, for the development of the
Barking (No 12) section by the erection of about 1,461 houses and flats, and 39 shops.
Building operations were immediately put in hand and by the end of the year a
number of the houses had been completed.
Mention was made in the Annual Report for 1928 (Vol. Ill, p. 179) of the decision
of the Council to defer for the present the development of the portion of Becontree
in the Barking Town Urban District west of Gale-street. The question was reviewed
towards the end of 1929 and the Council came to the conclusion that the situation
had substantially changed since July, 1928, when the previous decision was made,
and that the time had arrived when the development of the remainder of Becontree
should be undertaken. The lines of the main roads on this portion of the estate were
accordingly provisionally decided upon and on 3rd December, 1929, the Council
approved a capital estimate of £698,000 for the development of a further section
(Barking (No. 13) section), on which about 1,414 houses and flats will be erected.
It will be possible to provide on the remainder of the Barking portion of the estate
a further 4,500 houses, and at the end of the year preliminary questions with regard
to lay-out were under consideration.
At the end of the year, about 17,540 houses on the estate had been completed,
about 950 were in course of construction, and orders had been issued to the contractors
for the erection of about 700 others. The estate will probably be completed