[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—I have read with
great interest Mr.. Claude M. Leigh's article on slum clearance in last week's issue of the Spectator. His conclusions, that slum clearance can be made a profitable undertaking, seems to me to be of such vital importance and revolutionary significance—in the sense that it shatters completely the hypothesis on which all our present methods of attacking the slum problem are based—as to warrant the closest inspection.
As a man of undoubted experience in housing matters and estate management, Mr. Leigh has, of course, given full consideration to every assertion made in his article. But there is one statement which appears to me to require amplification and elucidation. He writes, " Let large areas of slum property, and property approaching the condition of slums, be acquired in the open market by private enterprise . . ." but is it not a fact that the reluctance of slum landlords to sell their property has made necessary the passing of the Act which permits local authorities to acquire such properties compulsorily on payment of site values ?
This objection seems to me to be vital to the scheme outlined by Mr. Leigh, although I can see no objection to the possibility, which he does not appear to have considered, of permitting local authorities to hand over the estates which they acquire under the existing conditions to private enterprise for deve- lopment, charging, of course, the costs of acquisition. Perhaps Mr. Leigh will enlighten us on this point ?—I am, Sir, &c.,
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