The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-14 00:00:00

WASTE PL ACES IN LONDON.

Within the last few days a report has been pre-
sented to the Court of Common Council from the
City Lands Committee, showing the number of
vacant sites in the city of London or elsewhere be-
longing to the corporation, the sums paid for each
of them, and how long they have remained vacant
and unproductive. They first advert to a piece of
ground on the east of Farringdon-street, the site of
the Fleet Prison, purchased by the corporation in
1845 for £25,000, including the buildings upon the
ground, the materials of which realised £5,269 odd,
reducing the cost to £19,730, to which was added
£1,882 17s. paid for redemption of land-tax, making
the whole cost £21,613. This ground, they state,
was kept vacant for many years, in the expectation
that it might be required for the purposes of some
public improvement, and now forms part of the
property proposed to be taken and used by the
London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company.
There are several plots of ground on the north side
of Holborn-bridge and on the East of Field-lane,
purchased and taken under the London (City) Im-
provement Act of 1847, at the cost of about £24,500,
and the ground has remained vacant since the year
1848. Again, on the east and west sides of Victoria-
street there are some pieces of ground, purchased
under the Holborn-bridge Act, passed upwards
of 20 years ago, for about ' £55,000. Some
portion of this ground has been let by the cor-
poration on building leases, at rents amounting
together to '1:321 a year, and the residue has
been allowed to remain vacant for some 18 years,
in consequence of anticipated improvements in
that locality. Next is a piece of ground on the
south of Holborn-hill, the site of two houses de-
stroyed by fire, purchased by the Commissioners
of Sewers, at the request of the Court of Common
Council, the expense of which, amounting to about
£4,645, was paid out of the City Improvement
Fund. The ground has remained vacant since 1848,
and the committee think that steps should now be
taken for letting it. There are likewise several
pieces of ground forming the site of Smithfield mar-
ket, partly situated within the city and partly
within the county of Middlesex, a portion of which
is the ancient site of Smithfield, and the rest con-
sists of property purchased by the corporation at
different times to increase the accommodation of the
market. Under the provisions of the Metropolitan
Meat and Poultry Market Act of last session a
portion of that ground is directed to be preserved
as au open space, subject to the periodical use of it
as a market for the sale of hay and straw, and the
remainder is to form part of the site of the proposed
new meat and poultry market. Another piece of
vacant ground is that in Warwick-square, adjoin-
ing the Old Bailey Sessions-house, being the sites
of four houses purchased by the corporation in 1858
for £1,765. The houses were pulled down imme-
diately after the purchase, and the ground has since
remained vacant ; but anticipated improvements in
that locality induce the committee to recommend
that it should not be let for the next six months.
Further, on the west of Saffron-hill, the east and
west of Victoria-street, and on the west of Turn- i
mill-street, are several plots of land, acquired under '
the Clerkenwell Improvement Acts, the expense of
carrying which acts into operation, after making
allowance for the sum charged upon the London-
bridge Approaches Fund, and all sums received in
respect of the property. amounted, up to Feb. 29,
1860, to £324,624. All that portion of the ground
situate on the east of Victoria-street and the west
of Turnmill-street has been agreed to be sold to the
Metropolitan Railway Company for £179,157. The
whole of the ground is under the control of the Im-
provement Committee. There are three pieces of
land adjoining, and near to the City Prison at Hol-
loway, part of the land purchased by the Corpora-
tion in 1834, with the view of using it as a burial-
ground for the interment of persons dying of malig-
nant diseases within the city, the rest having been
taken up for the purposes of the prison. The sum
paid for the purchase and enfranchisement of the
ground was £5,000, and that part not appropriated
to the purposes of the prison is let temporarily, but
is forthwith to be appropriated to building purposes.
Lastly, there are several pieces of land at the New
Metropolitan Market, Copenhagen-fields, part, of
that purchased for the purposes of the market. The
land brought under the authority of the Metropoli-
tan Market Act of 1851 contained in the whole
about 76 acres, for which the corporation paid
£64,978 odd. About 42 acres are appropriated for
the purposes of the market, and the roadways,
i
taverns, and buildings connected with t ; and by
an Act of Parliament recently passed the corpora-
tion are empowered to let on building leases a por-
tion of the vacant land, containing about 10 acres ;
the rest, consisting of about 24 acres, being reserved
for the purpose of providing additional accommo-
dation to the market, should it be wanted.