§ Mr. JOWETTasked the President of the Local Government Board under what conditions regarding rebuilding the Doncaster Corporation pulled down a large number of slum dwellings in 1908, and if these conditions have been complied with; and if he can give the House any information respecting the housing conditions of Doncaster?
§ The PRESIDENT of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. Burns)Under the powers given by their Local Acts of 1904 and 1908 the Doncaster Corporation acquired and demolished numerous houses for the purpose of effecting street and other improvements, thereby displacing a considerable number of persons of the working classes. It was their duty under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1903, before entering on those houses, to submit proposals to the Board in regard to the provision of accommodation for the persons displaced, and I communicated with them, requiring a housing scheme to be submitted. I ascertained that the Corporation had erected a number of wooden dwellings to house temporarily persons displaced under the Act of 1908, and I have received a very unsatisfactory report of these dwellings, and have written to the Corporation on the subject. The Corporation submitted a scheme for the erection of houses on a site which appeared to be unsuitable, and I have refused to sanction the proposals. They are now reconsidering the matter with a view to the submission of amended proposals without delay. As regards housing conditions generally in Doncaster, I find that the medical officer of health, in his report for 1910, gives some indication of overcrowding, but I understand that the general question of housing is prominently before the Corporation at the present time.