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cost. About 90 per cent. of the tenants are to be selected from applicants residing
in the County of London or employed in and recently residing in the County. On
29th October, 1929, the Council agreed to include in the lease about 9.75 acres of
adjoining land subject to the payment of a premium of £5,750. This additional
land is to be used by the trustees in conjunction with the Housing Association for
Officers' Families for housing and ancillary purposes. Of the remainder of the land
west of the railway two areas, 24 acres and 17 acres, have been sold to private builders
for the erection of dwelling-houses and shops, and the balance of about 10 acres which
is unsuitable for building is being reserved for use as an open space, this area
being additional to the above-mentioned 120 acres on the main nart of the estate.
Watling
estate.
The development of Watling estate (386 acres), on the east side of Edgwareroad,
Hendon, carried out by C. J. Wills and Sons, Limited, under a "value-cost"
contract, was commenced early in 1926 and completed in 1929. The total number
of houses and flats provided is 4,021. The majority are two-storey houses,
comprising 668 of five rooms (parlour type), 858 of four rooms (parlour type), 927
of four rooms (non-parlour type) and 1,215 of three rooms (non-parlour type).
In buildings of two or three storeys there are 100 flats of four rooms, 140 of three
rooms and 110 of two rooms. Each house and flat has a kitchenette and a bathroom
in addition to the number of rooms mentioned. Three houses have also
been provided for the estate superintendents. The weekly rents, exclusive of rates
and water charges, range from 10s. to 11s. for two-room flats to 14s. 6d to 17s. 3d.
for five-room houses. As regards construction, 1,974 of the dwellings have been
built in brick and 1,331 have external walls of concrete. In addition there are 252
"Atholl" steel houses and 464 timber-framed houses which were built to
supplement the rate of production in brick and concrete houses during the time
that a shortage of certain classes of skilled labour existed in the building trade.
During the year a site for a church was sold to the Congregational Church
authorities, and a plot of land was sold to the Roman Catholic Church authorities
for addition to the church site previously conveyed to them. Orange Hill House,
with part of the grounds, which was acquired by the Council as part of the estate,
was sold to an organisation of Dominican Nuns for education and ancillary purposes.
Sites were sold to the Hendon Urban District Council for an elementary school and
a maternity and child welfare centre. A small plot of land (previously let on a
quarterly tenancy) was sold to the Hendon Board of Guardians for institutional
purposes. About 6¼ acres of land on the estate was sold to the Hendon Urban
District Council for use as a playing field for its schools, and another area of 5¼ acres,
which the Council had previously decided to sell to the North London Collegiate
School for Girls, was leased to the Camden School for Girls for a similar purpose.
A small strip of land, fronting shop premises erected by a lessee of the Council, was
surrendered for addition to the public way. Seven sites were let on building lease
for the erection of shops and a site was let for the erection of lock-up garages.
The Council decided, in 1928, to let on building lease for 99 years, to Watney,
Combe, Reid and Company, Limited, a site for the erection of a licensed refreshment
house (if the necessary licence could be obtained). The site in question was scheduled
for residential user in the Hendon Urban District Council's draft town planning
scheme and the prospective lessees applied to the District Council for consent to the
requisite variation of the scheme, which was refused. The Council asked the
District Council to reconsider its decision, but it could not see its way to do so. The
Council accordingly, on 9th July, 1929, decided to appeal to the Minister of Health
under the Town Planning (General Interim Development) Order, 1922, against the
District Council's refusal. The appeal, and a similar appeal by the prospective
lessees, were heard by the Minister at the Town Hall, Hendon, on 21st October,
1929, and were allowed, thus enabling an application to be made to the licensing
justices in 1930 for a licence in respect of the proposed premises.