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community. The Act of 1949, with a very few exceptions, removed the expression 'working
classes' from housing legislation, the social revolution of the first half of this century
having made the term inappropriate.
The Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954 reflected the view of the Government that
the time had arrived for more attention to be given to the stock of existing houses. Once
again local authorities were required to submit returns to the Minister indicating the
extent of unfit houses in their areas, including proposals for dealing with them by means of
phased programmes. The Act also promulgated a new basis on which fitness for habitation
was to be assessed. It introduced new powers to enable local authorities to retain unfit
houses 'for the time being' so long as they were 'patched'. (The Act also made provision
for increases in rents in certain cases).
In 1957 the law relating to housing was consolidated yet again and the Housing Act of
that year is the authority from which the Council derives its present powers.
Implementation of 'clearance' legislation—Every large city has its peculiar housing
problems depending largely on its social and industrial evolution; to this rule London is no
exception. Some thousands of unfit houses have already been demolished as a result of the
slum clearance operations of the Council and the councils of the metropolitan boroughs.
At the present time there still remain many thousands of houses which are unfit for
habitation to such an extent as to justify similar action. Many are in the region of 100
years old and thus were built before bye-law or town planning control. In most instances
they were not designed for occupation by more than one family.
The Council has concurrent powers with the metropolitan borough councils in the
matter of slum clearance and is responsible for co-ordinating these operations. It is the
normal practice for the Council, preparatory to the formulation of any programme of
slum clearance, to invite the metropolitan borough councils to review the sanitary circumstances
in their areas and to submit their views. Differences of opinion revealed by these
proposals are resolved by discussion. The bulk of the detail work in this matter falls on the
borough medical officers of health and their staffs and I here acknowledge the assistance
which has always been afforded to me in this important field.
Each authority having accepted its share of the programme the necessary work of
implementation follows. So far as this department is concerned representations of clearance
areas to the Council are related to demolitions at a rate of about 3,000 houses each year.
Two methods are available to a local authority in dealing with a clearance area,
compulsory purchase order or clearance order. The essential difference is that in the first
case the local authority acquires the property, demolishes the buildings and itself redevelops
or disposes of the site and in the second case the site is left in the possession of
the owners, who are themselves required to demolish the insanitary building standing
thereon.
Of the various procedures which lead up to the demolition of a clearance area it suffices
to say they are defined by statute and great care is essential at every stage to ensure that the
statutory requirements are met, as failure so to do may well result in a nullification of the
Council's Order. The conditions precedent to the declaration of a clearance area by a local
authority have, in principle, remained unchanged since originally laid down in the Housing
Act, 1930. A clearance area must contain at least two houses and all the houses within the
area must be:
(a) unfit for human habitation, or
(b) dangerous or injurious to the health of the inhabitants of the area by reason of
their bad arrangement, or the bad arrangement or narrowness of the streets.
Further, the most satisfactory method of dealing with conditions in the area must
be by the demolition of all the buildings in the area.
When these conditions obtain the area may be declared by the Council to be a clearance
area provided the Council is satisfied that:
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