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erect as a first instalment 458 dwellings (houses and flats) at an estimated cost of
£155,300, the necessary road and sewer work in connection with the scheme being
estimated to cost £22,430; the dwellings and the roads and sewers were to be
constructed by direct labour under the supervision of the Borough Engineer.
The first of the dwellings were ready for occupation on the 1st September, 1934.
It is confidently expected that the scheme now in operation will prove a satisfactory
solution of the difficulty.
Council's Houses.—During the year the Council erected 360 houses, 20 on the
Page Estate and 340 on the Middle Park Estate. At the end of the year 246 houses
were in course of erection on the Middle Park Estate, and 32 on the Page Estate.
Overcrowding.—Early in 1935 the Registrar General issued a special report
on housing conditions compiled from information obtained by the Census of 1931.
It is particularly opportune at the present time in view of the Housing (Overcrowding)
Bill now before Parliament. I have extracted from this report information which
is likely to be of interest to the Council as it sets out to some extent the problem of
the less favourably housed sections of the community.
(a) Dwellings originally intended, for one family which are noiv shared.
The following tabular statement shows to what extent dwellings originally
intended for one family are now occupied by two or more :—
Number of dwellings in England and Wales occupied by private
families 9,123,279
Number of these shared by two or more families 838,695
Percentage so shared 9*19
Number of dwellings in London occupied by private families 730,628
Number of these shared by two or more families 293,303
Percentage so shared 40.14
Number of dwellings in Woolwich occupied by private families 29,870
Number of these shared by two or more families 7,303
Percentage so shared 24.45
Expressed in another way, there were approximately ten and a quarter million
families in England and Wales; the number of families in excess of separate dwellings
was just over eleven hundred thousand. In London there were 1,190,030 private
families or 459,402 families in excess of separate dwellings. In Woolwich there
were 38,176 private families and 8,306 families in excess of separate dwellings.