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74
by one of the three constituent authorities before amalgamation. The
housing programme of the Harrow Council was of quite modest dimensions
designed to meet the needs of a limited section of the community.
The needs of the rest, private enterprise was meeting, especially at the
time of the construction of much new property which had been such a
feature in this district.
New Houses. The total number of new permanent and temporary
dwellings provided from the end of the war up to the 31st December,
1954, was 2,316, comprising 2,093 new permanent dwellings, 200 new
temporary dwellings and 23 in hutted accommodation. 1,166 permanent
dwellings have been provided by private enterprise. 337 dwellings
destroyed by enemy action have been rebuilt by private enterprise and
333 existing houses have been converted. In addition 954 family dwelling
units were provided in requisitioned premises. Of these 319 have been
released and 54 reduced from two to one unit dwellings, leaving 581
held at the end of the year.
This district with twelve other Middlesex and two Hertford authorities
is linked as an exporting sector with the new towns of Harlow,
Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, and Welwyn and the expanded
towns of Aylesbury, Bletchley, Harpenden, Hertford, Letchworth,
St. Albans and Swindon. The Council's policy is to encourage the
transfer to new and expanded towns of Harrow families who have a
housing need and who can obtain employment in the new districts. At
their April meeting they agreed to enter into agreement with the Swindon
Borough Council for the provision of dwellings in Swindon to be allocated
to Harrow residents selected by the district Council. By the end of 1954
654 Harrow families had been housed at either the new towns or the
expanded towns, these being 356 Hemel Hempstead; 82 Stevenage; 12
Crawley; 35 Harlow; 30 Welwyn and Hatfield; 9 Basildon; 5 Bracknell;
82 Bletchley; 7 Aylesbury; 36 Swindon. Of these 654 families 443
were families whose names were on the normal waiting list.
Allocation of New Houses. When the first of the housing units
became available after the war, the Council decided to allocate them on
a points system, the points being earned by a variety of factors. Three
groups of persons remained outside the scheme whose applications were
dealt with independently because their claims for rehousing rested
essentially on health grounds. Of these three groups, the overcrowded
family was later brought into the points scheme by additional points
being given because of the overcrowding. This left two groups outside
the scheme. One was the family living in the condemned house. This
family was helped by the Public Health Committee making an appropriate
recommendation to the Housing Committee. The other group
was the family with a member suffering from tuberculosis. To meet the
needs of those in this group, one-sixth of the housing accommodation
which became available was allotted to them.
In July, 1952, it was estimated that the total number of new units
of Council dwellings to be provided in 1952, 1953 and 1954 would be
1,075. Of these 255 had to be allotted to meet certain commitments
including 65 for applicants on the main waiting list already promised