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Bell-lane area when reconstructed. Accommodation has already been provided
on the area in two blocks of dwellings, Carter House and Bernard House, containing
60 tenements (182 rooms).
At the end of the year the construction of (i) the first section of a third block
of five-storey dwellings, to be known as Brune House, and an estate store, (ii) nine
shops and workrooms in Shepherd-street, (iii) a portion of another building in
Shepherd-street, comprising a shop with dwelling accommodation over it, and
(iv) three shops with dwelling accommodation over them and three stores in connection
with the shops in Wentworth-street, was approaching completion. Brune
House has been designed to contain in all 99 tenements of the normal type, with
295 rooms, and the first section comprises 44 tenements (134 rooms). The method
of utilising the Ellen-street area when cleared is still under consideration. Arrangements
will be made for the erection of the remainder of Brune House and 10 further
shops in Wentworth-street as soon as the sites are available.
Difficulty was experienced in obtaining possession of 60, Bell-lane, required
by the Council for the purposes of the scheme, and High Court proceedings resulted
in a decision being given in the Council's favour. An appeal against the decision was
dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
The Council, on 23rd July, 1929, agreed to sell for £700 to a firm of merchants
displaced by the scheme, a plot of land fronting on Butler-street surplus to the
requirements of the scheme. The land is to be utilised for the erection of new
business premises.
Prusom-
street
scheme.
The Prusom-street scheme, as confirmed by the Minister of Health, with
modifications, in 1924, deals with an area of about 8½ acres in extent in Wapping,
to be known, when reconstructed, as Wapping estate. The scheme involves the
displacement of 2,601 persons of the working classes. At the end of 1928 accommodation
had been provided in five blocks of dwellings containing 127 tenements
(356 rooms). During 1929, Fenner House, a four-storey block of dwellings of the
simplified type containing 20 tenements with 48 rooms, was completed, whilst
considerable progress had been made with the erection of Jackson House, a fivestorey
block of the normal type, comprising 31 tenements with 98 rooms, and 8 lockup
shops. The work of erecting 3 shops with dwelling accommodation over them in
Old Gravel-lane was completed during the year.
On 14th May, 1929, the Council approved a capital estimate of £32,800 for
the erection of two further blocks of dwellings five storeys high, to comprise 58 tenements
of the normal type with 180 rooms, and an estate workshop, and the construction
of a public footway between the estate and Wapping Recreation Ground.
The building work was entrusted to the Canonbury Construction Company, Limited,
and considerable progress had been made at the end of the year with the erection
of one of these blocks; the other block was to be commenced early in 1930. Plans
for the erection of two more blocks of dwellings were under consideration at the end
of 1929.
Baker's-alley,
Birchfieldstreet
and
Bromleyplace
scheme.
The scheme made by the Council for the clearance of the three insanitary areas
in the metropolitan borough of Poplar, known as the Baker's-alley (1⅓ acres), Birchfield-street
(¾ acre) and Bromley-place (¾ acre) areas, was confirmed by the Minister
of Health in 1924. The scheme involves the displacement of 740 persons of the
working classes. A block of dwellings (Birchfield House) containing 40 tenements
(95 rooms) has been erected on the Birchfield-street area.
The Bromley-place area has to be laid out as an open space and the Baker'salley
area may be disposed of or utilised by the Council for any purpose with the
consent of the Minister of Health. Neither of these areas has yet been cleared,
and the question of providing rehousing accommodation for the persons who will
be displaced is under consideration.