SIR,—I wonder what proportion of so-called ' City men' read
the Spectator?
I hope it is a very large one so that they have the evidence of Mr. John Betjeman in ' A Spectator's Notebook' in support of the need for homes, in the City.
While bombs were still falling, the Corpora- tion of London met in the crypt of Guildhall to plan the rebuilding of the City. What an unending task this is—hindered at every stage by economic, licensing and other delays, quite apart from the loss of its planning ' authority ' to the LCC.
How difficult it is to persuade some of one's colleagues at Guildhall that without residents, the City would be a desert.
The answer today is 'We are building flats for those whose hOmes were destroyed in the war '—but that is not enough.
Mr. John Betjeman speaks of ' money- worshipping planners.' I would agree that it pays better to build offices than flats. I have long maintained at Guildhall that this aspect Is not the only one.
The City needs homes for those whose work makes it essential for them to live there— the Corporation's consultants, Mr. (now Sir) W. G. Holford, FRIBA, and Dr. C. H. Holden, FRIBA, named the types of. workers who need to be housed in the Square Mile and the areas where such homes could be built.
The City is healthy; it has all the advan- tages Which Mr. Betjeman sets out—why is this pressing demand for residential accom- modation not adequately met ?
It is, in my opinion, largely because the case has not been considered on its merits, but primarily on its possible financial loss. Some of my colleagues at Guildhall, how- ever, believe with me that, in certain circum- stances, homes could be provided at fair rentals to show a fair return to developers.
We do not expect our streets, our health service, our libraries, our police, to show a profit—why should not certain areas, as advised by the Corporation's own consul- tants, be reconsidered and reserved at an economic ground rent for residential accom- modation as one of the needs of the City of London ? Yes, I know that rates must be reduced—but that is another question.—
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