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The direct costs include laundry and domestic cleaning; the cleaning, painting and repair of
buildings; the corrosion of metals, which entails the cost not only of replacement, but also of providing
protective coverings, etc.; damage to goods; additional lighting and extra hospital and medical services,
etc.
The loss of efficiency includes, for example, the effects on agriculture of damage to soil, crops
and animals, interference with transport and reduced human efficiency due to illness.
We have made enquiries of many different sources about the costs falling under each of these
heads. After examining all the evidence we have been able to obtain, we feel justified in stating that
air pollution is at present costing the nation £250,000,000 a year in terms only of losses that can be
given a monetary value. This does not include the value of the fuel that is lost through incomplete
combustion, one of the main causes of smoke. This probably amounts to between £25,000,000 and
£50,000,000 a year and represents a waste of coal which the nation cannot afford. Nor, as we have said,
do they include those costs that cannot be measured in terms of money, though they may be immense,
for instance, the loss of happiness and health."
The Committee submitted recommendations, some entailing legislation and others to be brought
into operation through other channels. The Committee recommends that except for certain specified
processes, the responsibility for enforcing the law for the prevention of smoke and grit should be placed
as a statutory duty on the local authorities. Legislation to implement the recommendations of the
Committee is awaited, but attention is drawn to the following extract from the Report :—
"We wish to state our emphatic belief that air pollution on the scale with which we are familiar
in this country today is a social and economic evil which should no longer be tolerated, and that it needs
to be combated with the same conviction and energy as were applied one hundred years ago in securing
pure water. We are convinced that given the will it can be prevented. To do this will require a national
effort and will entail costs and sacrifices; the recommendations made in this Report will involve
expenditure by the Government, local authorities, industry and householders alike, but we are confident
that our proposals, if carried out, will secure happier and more healthy living conditions for millions
of people, and that on all counts the cost of the cure will be far less than the national loss in allowing
the evil to continue."
Tents, Vans and Caravans.— There are five sites in the Borough which have been used as
caravan sites for many years. Some are occupied wholly or in part by persons who use caravans for
business in connection with a travelling circus, fair or stall. During the year, the inspectors made 627
visits of inspection because of the occupation of land by caravans. Trespass by caravans on unfenced
land continues.
Four applications under the provisions of the Middlesex County Council Acts for permission
to place caravans on sites within the Borough were considered; three were approved for a limited period,
and the other was refused.
Common Lodging Houses.— There is no common lodging house in the Borough.
Canal Boats.— The Sanitary Inspectors continue their duties as canal boat inspectors, and made
68 inspections during the year.
Factories, Workplaces, etc.— The Factories Act placed on the Council certain duties in regard
to (a) outworkers; (b) employment of persons in unwholesome premises; (c) basement bakehouses;
{d) provision of sanitary conveniences in all factories, and (e) cleanliness, over-crowding, ventilation
and drainage of floors in the case of factories in which mechanical power is not used. A summary of
the work done is given below and in Table IX.
Inspection of (a) Factories—mechanical power 711
(b) Factories—non-mechanical power 101
(c) Other premises 10
(d) Workplaces 46
(e) Outworkers' premises 179
Defects remedied 23
At the end of the year the number of outworkers registered with the Department was 187.
Mosquitoes.— No complaint of the presence of biting mosquitoes was received during the year.
Culex molestus, the biting mosquito that caused so much annoyance during 1939-46, appears to have
ceased to breed in the district. Householders, gardeners and allotment holders can do much to discourage
breeding of mosquitoes by attending to ponds, waterbuts, liquid manure pits, etc.
Disinfestation.— The Health Department deals with bug and other infestations in houses and
other premises, and for this purpose D.D.T. and other insecticides are used. During the year, 56 rooms
in 23 houses were treated, while 39 wasp nests were destroyed, five premises cleared of cockroaches,
our cleared of ants, and two of carpet beetles. Treatment of ponds and tanks to prevent the breeding
of mosquitoes was carried out as necessary.
Noise Nuisance.—In the Middlesex County Council Act a noise nuisance is deemed to exist
where any person makes or continues or causes to be made or continued any excessive or unreasonable
or unnecessary noise which is injurious or dangerous to health." Further, it is a good defence for the
person charged to show "that he has used the best practicable means of preventing or mitigating the
nuisance, having regard to the cost and to other relevant circumstances." Most complaints of noise
nuisance arise in connection with industrial processes carried on in factories situated close to houses.
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