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67
assured of any financial assistance towards the great expense that would have
to be incurred in making roads that were too expensive from merely a local
point of view. He urged that it was absolutely necessary that the lines
of these roads should be definitely fixed, if the town planning of Greater
London was to be homogenous, and that it would be a mistake to allow
80 districts to act independently of each other. Edmonton is especially
interested in this question because the proposed new Cambridge highway
extends from north to south of the district, a distance of 2½ miles, and the
great east to west road, from Finchley to Wanstead, the same distance. It
appeared to Mr. Brown that some central Government authority should be set
up to deal with this huge problem. He suggested that the Government might
perhaps draw up a scheme acceptable to the 80 local authorities within a radius
of 15 miles of London, which would not only benefit them, but the City
and County of London.
In August the Local Government Board wrote stating that the President
of the Local Government Board had consented to preside at a Conference of
local authorities, and on the 25th August Councillor Cadman and the Engineer
were appointed to represent Edmonton.
This Conference met in October when it was decided to split the Greater
London area into sections, with a view to the consideration of town planning in
relation to the proposed arterial roads. So Mr. T. Adams, of the Local Government
Board, and Colonel Hellard, of the Traffic Branch of the Board of Trade,
mapped out these sectional areas. Since then each section has met for
discussion. Edmonton is concerned in both the north-east and north sections.
TRIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS.
The tenth of this series was held at Scheveningen, the seaside suburb of
the Hague, Holland. As in 1910 at Vienna, so in 1913 I attended (at my own
expense and in my own time) as one of the 80 British delegates to the Congress.
There were about 700 delegates present from all parts of the civilised
world, but the British was the largest group. This was organised by the
National Housing and Town Planning Council, of 41, Russell Square,
London, W.C.
Four subjects were submitted for consideration:—
1. The improvement, or clearance, of slums.
2. The improvement of rural housing.
3. Overcrowding, its definition and prevention.
4. Town planning; the power of local authorities to make and
enforce schemes.
The Congress of 1916 will be held in Rome.