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It will be seen, therefore, that out of 1,061 working-class
houses in the area, 583 are overcrowded, or unfit for human
habitation and not capable at reasonable expense of being
rendered so fit, or are badly congested. This represents
55 per cent. of the working-class dwellings in the area compared
with the statutory condition of at least one-third.
The total population of the area is 5,471, of whom 5,382
are persons of the working classes (including 511 persons in
Peabody buildings), and 89 are persons other than workingclass.
It is estimated that the redevelopment of the area
will involve the displacement and rehousing of 4,700 persons
of the working classes.
(iv) The Redevelopment of the Area
Having regard to the close connection between the treatment
of a redevelopment area and town planning, it is
necessary to bear in mind from the commencement the correlation
of the development entailed by the provision of
adequate housing accommodation with the provisions of
wider planning schemes for the district. The Minister of
Health, as already mentioned, emphasises this aspect of the
question in his memorandum on the redevelopment provisions
of the Act, in which he states that, once a local authority
has decided that the conditions in a particular part of its
district are such that it becomes the duty of the authority
to declare a redevelopment area, the actual limits of that area
will depend almost as much on planning considerations as
on those of housing and finance.
While the initial stage of the procedure under the Act is
merely the declaration of the area and the publication of
the Council's resolution, we think it desirable that some indication
should now be given of the proposals which we have
in mind for the redevelopment of the area and the probable
extent of the financial commitments involved. We contemplate
the removal of many of the factories and workshops
into a portion of the area to be set apart from the residential
district for that purpose ; the erection by the Council of
blocks of flats ; the widening of Cambridge Road, Old Bethnal
Green Road, Pritchard's Road, Hackney Road and Bishop's
Road ; and the erection of shops and commercial premises
where required on the frontages of certain of these roads.
After the area has been declared to be a redevelopment
area, there is nothing to prevent the Council from dealing
with unfit houses in the area under the Housing Act, 1930 ;
and the Housing and Public Health Committee propose to
consider shortly as to declaring portions of the area to be