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During and pending the carrying out and completion of such
Private Schemes, the Borough Council, as the Sanitary Authority,
must continue to see that the houses comprised in such Schemes, and
which will eventually be demolished, are, if inhabited as dwellings,
kept, in the meantime, in such a state as to be " reasonably fit, in
all respects, for human habitation."
Conclusion (5) concerns the Borough Council itself.
The question of principle as to whether, or not, the Borough
Council is justified in taking over ownership and becoming a municipal
landlord, in certain selected small areas or individual houses,
is not a branch of the Housing Question upon which I feel called
upon officially to advise as Medical Officer of Health. That matter
may be left with confidence to the decision of the Borough Council
itself, which has but one object in view—the betterment of the home
conditions of the inhabitants who comprise the large and important
Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth.
No mention has been made throughout this Report of the new
Housing, Town Planning, etc., Bill, 1919, as its various sections do
not, in my opinion, necessitate any alteration of policy by the
Borough Council in regard to the Housing Question in the Borough,
though, perhaps, the Council's hands may be forced into declaring
its policy within the next few months for the information of, and
approval (or otherwise) by, the Local Government Board, to which
is entrusted stringent supervision over Sanitary Authorities, which,
in their turn, have powers of delegation to Public Utility Societies
and Housing Trusts, under certain conditions. Further, Part 111.
of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, is amended in the
new Bill so that a Metropolitan Borough Council becomes the
Authority for providing workmen's dwellings within the area of such
Borough, if for the sole use of its inhabitants [vide Conclusion (2)].
Joseph Priestley,
Medical Officer of Health.
16th June, 1919.