View report page

31
Whereas before the war, a landlord was generally prepared to
undertake essential cleansing or redecoration of occupied premises,
owing to the comparative high cost of decoration and apart from any
legal requirement, that situation no longer prevails, particularly
since the repeal of the Tenement House Bye-laws. Tenants of private
property are now doing their own redecoration-in most cases quite
successfully.
The creation of vacant bombed sites during the war has led to
difficulties in Finsbury as it has elsewhere in London. Even when
the building rubble has been cleared away the dumping of unwanted
bedding and furniture and vegetable refuse has led to unsightly if not
unhygienic conditions which may well constitute a danger to the health
of children who play there. In such cases disinfestation is carried
out and removal of refuse arranged. Nuisances have also arisen
through the burning of waste materials on vacant sites. Disused
static water tanks have been the subject of complaints during the
post-war years and the London Fire Brigade have co-operated in pumping
out stagnant water and treating the tanks to mitigate nuisances and
the breeding of mosquitoes.
Looking back on these past years one may realize that a good deal
of improvement has taken place not only in the condition of the
premises in which people live and work but also in the general
appearance of the Borough. The rate of improvement often seemed slow,
as one difficulty after another was encountered but certainly sanitary
conditions are much better now than they were immediately after the
war in 1946.
As regards housing properties I feel that the policy already
referred to of endeavouring to maintain co-operation with owners by
dealing with sanitary defects as far as possible informally has been
justified: it may be that in a few cases this has resulted in somewhat
slower action than otherwise might have been accomplished, but on
the other hand has undoubtedly been the means of achieving repairs and
renovations which could not have been enforced through legal channels.
We must not be content, however, with present day conditions and
must look to and press forward to much greater advances. Although
there has been much repair to buildings this has often been of a very
superficial and patchwork nature leaving the structure as a whole in a
condition far from sound but able to stand the stresses of further
years of use.
Two matters in particular call for attention at the present time
although they have not the serious character of some years ago. I
refer to the conditions of the market streets and the amount of
rubbish deposited in improper places and of litter scattered about the