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(3) That when re-housing on the cleared site is necessary, every possible
amenity in regard to access of light and air should be provided and flats
should not be of greater height than four storeys.
(4) That re-conditioning is an expensive and generally unsatisfactory
method of meeting the problem, and should only be adopted in exceptional
cases.
(5) When re-conditioning is undertaken the houses should be controlled
by the local authority.
(6) That local authorities should at once be empowered to plan built-up
areas.
That this Conference reports to the Housing Committee—
(1) That the Housing Committee be requested to submit to an early
meeting of the Association a full report on the subject matter of the resolutions
passed at this and previous sessions of this conference.
(2) That the constituent members of the Association be requested to
urge upon their members the need for a still more active policy of slum clearance
being adopted and put into force.
(3) That such authorities should not relax their efforts to meet the slum
problem because of criticisms of terms of compensation to owners embodied
in existing legislation.
(4) That if the decision of the Divisional Court in the Derby case
should be upheld, the Association should demand early legislation to remove
the effect of that decision.
(5) That further legislation is required:—
(a) to enable local authorities to acquire adjacent lands in connection
with the purchase of unhealthy areas;
(b) shortening the time within which unhealthy areas can be acquired;
(c) giving further powers as regards premises to be re-conditioned;
(d) as to financial assistance by the State.
That this conference, while not expressing any concluded opinion on
the question of rent assistance to tenants removed to new houses, who cannot
afford to pay an economic rent, requests the Housing Committee to collate
available information of what is being done by various municipalities and to
report thereon to the Association."
In April, 1928, I completed a report embodying the results of a
survey of the whole Borough with plans of areas and a description of
the undesirable housing property throughout the Borough. This
report has been considered at joint meetings of the Public Health
Committee and Housing Committee, and forwarded to the Ministry of
Health and London County Council; the report is still under
consideration.
Other reports presented to the Public Health Committee on the
question of housing and overcrowding will be found in the report.
' Botching," the difficulty of enforcing adequate repairs, on page 104,
B