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HOUSING.
Nearly five years have elapsed since the end of the war, and it is
possible to review the whole situation, to note the progress which has
been made and to re-examine the need which still exists.
If one judged by the number of appeals for help still being made
to this Department one would be satisfied that the needs are still very
great and that considerable efforts will be needed for years to come if
the housing of the people in the Borough is to be placed on a satisfactory
basis.
To begin with it must be realised that the housing problem in
Beckenham did not start with the war. There was a definite shortage of
accommodation in the Borough for working class families before the
war started. This need was recognised by the Council and proposals
were approved for the erection of 118 houses, 34 in West Wickham and
84 in Beck Lane. The West Wickham houses were completed before the
war, the outbreak of which prevented the development of the Beck
Lane estate, on which work was expected to start in 1940. From which it
is clear that the Beck Lane houses, forming a considerable proportion
of the new permanent houses erected by the Council since the war, was
really just the unavoidably delayed erection of houses to meet pre-war
requirements.
The six years of war, during which no new houses could be built
and a large number of small houses were destroyed, very seriously
aggravated a situation which had never been satisfactory since the end
of the first war.
During the war a special committee considered the post-war housing
problem and advised the Council that, in their opinion, the probable
need would be the provision of accommodation for 1,000 families, and
that the first year's programme should be provision for 200 families.
This estimate met with some criticism, but a Housing Survey conducted
in 1947 showed that the figures put forward were, if anything, an
underestimate.
In the latter part of 1943, the Health and Housing Committee, after
surveying the district for suitable housing sites, recommended the
purchase of three sites, which would have provided sufficient space for
the erection of about 300 houses. The Council considered that two of the
sites were not suitable, and that the price demanded for the third site
was too high. A month later the Committee reaffirmed their previous
recommendation and the Council deferred consideration: there was
naturally some anxiety to learn what financial assistance, if any, would
be forthcoming from the Government before embarking on the
purchase of land for housing purposes.
In December 1943, approval was given to the practice of converting
large houses into flats.
Nearly a year later the Health and Housing Committee again
submitted their recommendation for the purchase of the three sites
previously mentioned, and the Council approved the purchase of one of
them—an area of about three and a half acres.
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