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that, without any expense to the Council, there will ho suitable accommodation
in the immediate neighbourhood for many of those
displaced when the first section is taken in hand.
6.—Finance. It is clearly stated in the Committee's report that the
estimated net cost of the scheme is £300,000. which, reckoning on a
loan for 60 years, becomes a burden to the ratepayers of £ 11,000 for
the first year, a charge which will diminish each subsequent year.
Under section 12 of the Housing Art, 1890, it is the duty of the Council
when the confirming Act has been passed by Parliament "to take
steps for purchasing the lands required by the scheme, and otherwise
for carrying the scheme into oxecution as soon as practicable." It
will therefore be necessary, if the scheme is approved by the Council
and sanctioned by Parliament, to purchase the area with as little delay
as possible; but this will not prevent the Council, if it sees fit, from
dealing with the area in sections, taking the most crowded and insanitary
parts first. A report as to the future clearance of the area,
and as to provisions under which sales are to bo effected, will bo
submitted to the Council for its approval if the scheme is passed.
7.—The Scheme. Owing to the wording of recommendation (b), a
misapprehension has arisen which can bo easily explained. When the
draft scheme with the map was finally approved by the Committee, it
was submitted to counsel to ensure that it was correct as to form.
Therefore, on the date of the presentation of the report, as counsel's
opinion had not been received, the draft report was laid on the table
with the map. Last Tuesday, however, the scheme passed as correct
by counsel was laid on the table. A copy of the scheme, together with
the map, has now been sent to every member of the Council; and on
Tuesday next the Chairman will ask the Council to allow the alteration
of recommendation (b), which will then run as follows—
(b) That the scheme submitted by the Committee for the improvement
of the area referred to in the foregoing resolution, bo approved, and that it
be referred to the Committee to take all the necessary steps for depositing
and obtaining confirmation thereof.
8.—Can the area bo adequately dealt with except in the manner
proposed by the Committee? The Housing Committee and the Medical
Officer of the Council, think that the area can only be satisfactorily
dealt with under Part 1 of the new Act, and have reported in that sense.
The Committee have reluctantly come to this conclusion, as their policy
is and will be to make use of Part 2 in preference to Part 1. The size
of the area and the necessity for a thorough re-arrangement and reconstruction
make it impossible, however, to deal with the evils of
the Bethnal Green area under Part 2, which deals with individual
houses unfit for habitation, and not with a largo insanitary area. I