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SECTION D.
Number of new houses erected during the year.
78 houses were completed during the year 1948 by private
builders. The Council erected 460 houses during the year and 106
houses were rebuilt as a result of destruction by enemy action.
Hornchurch retained its place as the leading Urban District in
England and Wales for housing completion during the year.
Slum Clearance.
Comment has previously been made on the relatively high
average standard of housing accommodation in this area, largely
because of its recent and rapid development. The way is not yet
clear for other than isolated instances of slum property to be dealt
with radically and until area procedure under the Housing Act is
once more available to us, our powers will remain limited. We can,
however, ensure that the necessary information is available to
enable us to tackle the problem when once again we are permitted
to do so.
Rural Housing (including Housing of Agricultural Workers).
Owing to staff conditions it has not yet been found possible to
proceed with a survey of the housing conditions of rural workers.
The Council is, of course, in association with the War Agricultural
Executive Committee for the County, taking steps on a limited
scale to provide new accommodation for selected agricultural
workers, but the problem naturally extends considerably beyond
this into the realm of those workers who have perhaps been living
for many years under conditions which would not commend themselves
particularly to the average inhabitant in the urban part of
the area.
Overcrowding.
This problem will have to be tackled in time, but it is difficult
to determine whether the population movement has yet become
sufficiently normal to render any survey results of lasting value.
My own view is that although such a time is approaching fairly
rapidly, it has perhaps not yet arrived and as a matter of policy
caution should be exercised in not initiating steps through the
carrying out of a survey which will not result in smooth and speedy