IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 ACC/2863
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: GREAT WESTERN (LONDON) HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Date(s): 1922-1990
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 2.86 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Great Western (London) Housing Association
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The Great Western (London) Housing Association, or the Great Western (London) Garden Village Society as it was known until 1947, was established in 1923. Its aim was to provide houses at moderate rents for employees of the Great Western Railway Company and their families in the London area. This co-operative scheme was set up largely in response to the acute housing shortage after the First World War.
The Great Western Railway Company acquired sites at Acton and Hayes. The company then leased the land to the association as and when it was required. The houses were built in groups of fifty, the first being completed and occupied between May and November 1924. A financial agreement between the company and the association enabled the company to lend the association up to ninety per cent of the approved cost of the houses, the loan being secured by a mortgage. The association was administered by the Welsh Town Planning and Housing Trust until 1976. The trust was experienced in the formation and management of garden villages in England and Wales. The administration was taken over by the Family Housing Association until June 1980, when the Great Western (London) Housing Association elected to employ its own administrative staff. The association was managed by a committee of management, which consisted of between seven and eleven people elected by the association's members.
When the opportunity arose in December 1983 for the association to buy the freehold interest in its properties from the British Railways Board, it was unable to raise the capital on its own. A joint venture agreement was therefore entered into, whereby the shareholder tenants were able to purchase their properties from the board and the association. Ninety seven per cent of the shareholders took advantage of this offer, leaving the association with only thirty rented properties. It was decided to transfer these to a new housing association. Thus, the Great Western (London) Housing Association was dissolved in 1990.
The Great Western (London) Housing Association is referred to in the catalogue as 'the association'.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of the Great Western (London) Housing Association, covering the association's creation in 1923 to its dissolution in 1990. They include a complete run of forty two volumes of minute books and annual reports.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Agreements ACC/2863/01-02;
Rules ACC/2863/03;
Minute books ACC/2863/04-45;
Annual and other reports ACC/2863/46-49;
Building agreements ACC/2863/50-69;
General financial records ACC/2863/70-72;
Shareholders ACC/2863/73-74;
Tenants ACC/2863/75-76;
Documents concerning grants, subsidies and mortgages ACC/2863/77-80;
Income tax hearing ACC/2863/81-84;
War damage ACC/2863/85-87;
Miscellaneous legal documents ACC/2863/88-89;
Plans ACC/2863/90-93;
Printed material ACC/2863/94-99.
Conditions governing access:
These records are open to public inspection, although records containing personal information may be subject to closure periods.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to these records rests with the City of London.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Gifted to the Archive in November 1990.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: June to August 2010.