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London Metropolitan Archives

CLERK'S DEPARTMENT: COMMITTEES CONCERNED WITH HOUSING


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): LCC/CL/HSG

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: CLERK'S DEPARTMENT: COMMITTEES CONCERNED WITH HOUSING

Date(s): 1889-1965

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 5.38 linear metres

Name of creator(s): LCC | London County Council x London County Council

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The London County Council delegated administrative matters to its committees, both standing committees and a number of special committees appointed for specific purposes. The committees met frequently, either weekly or fortnightly, while the Council met weekly. Committee reports requiring decision by the Council were dealt with weekly, and each committee reported to the Council every 6 months. In addition the Council also had representatives on many bodies such as industrial councils, school governing bodies and charitable foundations. For the purpose of carrying out the services of the Council, the staff is organised into departments, each of which is under the responsibility of a chief officer.

The Clerk of the Council was the chief administrative officer of the Council, acting as the clerk of the Council itself as well as the various committees. Additional important duties of the Clerk's Department included the maintenance of the library for members of the Council at City Hall, the preparation of general publications and the responsibility for general work including records.

Committees concerned with housing were:
Housing of the Working Classes Committee (1889-1891)
Public Health and Housing Committee (1891-1896)
Housing of the Working Classes Committee (1896-1920)
Housing Committee (1920-1934)
Housing and Public Health Committee (1934-1947)
Housing Committee (1947-1965).

The County of London Plan, published in 1943, designated various sites were as 'areas of comprehensive redevelopment', such as Poplar, Stepney, Bermondsey, Elephant and Castle and Knightsbridge Green. In these areas the Council wanted to achieve better living conditions by regrouping commerce and industry close to railways, canals and docks and providing schools, local shopping, entertainment, open spaces and other social services while maintaining a traditional sense of community. In other areas traffic problems would be addressed with new roads.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the London County Council Clerk's Department relating to committees concerned with housing. Committee Clerk's papers relating to various subjects including: housing after the war, 1917-1919; housing policy, 1919-1947; slum clearance, 1928-1939; housing development programme; repair of war-damaged houses, 1941-1946; legal decisions relating to housing, 1929-1946; letters and circulars from Ministry of Health and other Government Departments, 1919-1925; housing conferences and congresses, 1936-1946; garden cities and satellite towns, 1925-1939; overcrowding survey and other papers relating to overcrowding, 1926-1936; working class housing in London outside LCC area, 1929-1933; proposed sites for new out of county cottage estates, 1930-1947; advance preparation of sites for post-war housing, 1942-1947; planning of dwellings, 1924-1945; steel houses, 1924-1926; timber houses, 1928-1931; housing of special categories of tenants such as the aged, the disabled and single women, 1934-1944; provision of services including gas and electricity, 1920-1942; community centres on housing estates, 1934-1945; housing estate management and maintenance, 1921-1940; housing by private enterprise, 1930-1938; employment of private architects, 1935-1946; Housing Associations, 1934-1950; open spaces on housing estates, 1936-1957.

Printed papers on a variety of topics including: housing, 1889-1913; housing schemes, 1889-1893; returns of new housing accommodation for the working classes, 1902-1919; municipal lodging houses, 1890-1903; hostels for single men and women in employment, 1958-1965; problem families and homeless families, 1960-1964; Bermondsey Comprehensive Development Area, 1947-1960; Covent Garden Market Area, 1963-1964; Elephant and Castle Comprehensive Development Area, 1956-1967; Stepney-Poplar Comprehensive Development Area, 1960-1965; Lee Valley, 1963-1964; new type dwellings, 1951-1965; erection of high buildings, 1933-1958; works of art for housing estates, 1957-1959; coal supply in London, 1939 and 1942.

Committee Clerk's Papers on individual estates (these files were preserved as examples when those relating to other estates were destroyed). Estates include:
Becontree Estate, Essex
Bellingham Estate, Lewisham
Boreham Wood Estate, Hertfordshire
Chingford Estate, Essex
Clarendon Street Area, Paddington
Debden Estate, Essex
Downham Estate, Lewisham and Bromley
Eversholt Street Estate, Saint Pancras
Hainault Estate, Essex
Hanwell Estate, Ealing
Harold Hill Estate, Essex
Headstone Lane Estate, Harrow
Langley Estate, Slough, Buckinghamshire
Lansbury Estate, Poplar and Stepney
Larkhall Estate, Clapham, Wandsworth
Linden Grove Estate, Camberwell
Merstham Estate, Surrey
Oxhey Estate, Hertfordshire
Roehampton Estate, Wandsworth
Saint Helier Estate, Surrey
Saint Paul's Cray Estate, Kent
Saint Vincent's Estate, Poplar and Stepney
Sheerwater Estate, Woking, Surrey
Tulse Hill Estate, Lambeth
Watling Estate, Edgware
White City Estate, Hammersmith
White Hart Lane Estate, Tottenham
Woodberry Down Estate, Stoke Newington
Edenbridge Estate, Kent
Pepys Estate, Deptford
Thamesmead, Woolwich and Erith
Alton Estate, Wandsworth
Aveley Estate, Essex
Farnborough, Hampshire and Roundshaw Estate (Croydon Airport Site), Surrey.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

LCC/CL/HSG/1: Committee Clerk's General papers; LCC/CL/HSG/2: Committee Clerk's Papers on individual estates.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: City of London.

Physical characteristics:

Fit

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Acquired with the records of its parent body, the London County Council.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

For more London County Council records relating to housing see LCC/AR/CB (LCC Architect's Department Council Buildings); LCC/AR/TP (LCC Architect's Department Town Planning); LCC/HSG (LCC Housing Department).

Publication note:

For further information on the history of the LCC please see Achievement: A Short History of the London County Council by W Eric Jackson (1965), LMA Library reference 18.0 1965, The London County Council 1938, LMA Library reference 18.7 SER 4, and The Youngest County: A description of London as a county and its public services, 1951, LMA Library reference 18.0 1951.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: April to June 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Community centres | Community development
Council housing | Housing | Accommodation | Building standards | Building design | Construction engineering
Homeless | Poor | Disadvantaged groups
Hostels | Housing provision | Housing | Accommodation | Building standards | Building design | Construction engineering
Housing associations | Associations | Organizations
Housing authorities | Local authorities | Local government | Public administration | Government
Housing construction | Housing | Accommodation | Building standards | Building design | Construction engineering
Housing development plans | Urban planning | Urban development
Housing maintenance | Housing | Accommodation | Building standards | Building design | Construction engineering
Housing needs | Housing | Accommodation | Building standards | Building design | Construction engineering
Postwar reconstruction | Reconstruction | Restoration | Cultural property preservation
Housing policy
Town and country planning

Personal names

Corporate names
Clerk's Department | London County Council
LCC | London County Council x London County Council

Places
Buckinghamshire | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Essex | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Hampshire | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Hertfordshire | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Kent | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Surrey | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe