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15
(6) Premises and Occupations which can be controlled
by Bye-laws and Regulations.
Tents, Vans and Sheds.
As stated in previous reports, there are still a number
of vans and sheds situated on the marshes at Abbey
Wood.
The condition of some of these is good, but others
are dirty, and the ground about is sodden with slopwater.
The Council's Bye-laws require the owner of the
land to provide a proper and sufficient water supply and
an earth closet, but many of these vans stand on plots,
all trace of whose owners has been lost.
During 1920 the District Council promoted a Bill in
Parliament, and in that Bill is a clause giving some extended
powers for dealing with these tents and vans,
this is shown below, but no case necessitating its use
has yet occurred.
" (1) If any squatter or gipsy or other person
dwelling in a tent or van or other similar structure
and occupying any land within three hundred yards
of any dwelling-house within the District shall cause
injury or annoyance to residents in the neighbourhood
or be a nuisance or dangerous or injurious to
health a court of summary jurisdiction may on complaint
by the Council make an order prohibiting
(either absolutely or subject to conditions) the further
occupation of such land or any other land
within a radius of one thousand yards thereof by
such squatter gipsy or other person and if the order
be not complied with the owner or lessee of the land
or other person who suffers the land to be so occupied
and the squatter gipsy or other person shall
each be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds
and to a further penalty not exceeding twenty shillings
for every day on which the land shall be so
occupied after the date from which the said order
takes effect.