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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan
Borough of Saint Pancras.
Your Worship, Ladles and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting to you my first Annual
Report upon the conditions of health in the Metropolitan Borough
of St. Pancras.
In accordance with instructions received from the
Ministry of Health this report in in an abridged form and is
chiefly a compilation of statistical Information. In that I
commenced duties In the middle of October it will be realised
that most of the Information contained herein concerns matters
that occurred before my appointment, and there have only been
months upon which I can speak from personal knowledge.
Although this report is for the year 1944 it is nevertheless
written In the latter part of 1945 and it is impossible to be
unbiased by matters that have arisen in this year marked by
peace not only in Europe, but throughout the world, for there
can be no excuse now for postponing the planning of those
services which are essential to the health of the district.
Before the end of 1944 it became apparent to me that
one could not expect to see St. Pancras the healthy borough it
should be unless it was realised that the paramount need of its
citizens was adequate housing, a fact well recognised not only
by the Health Committee, but also by the Housing Committee and
every member of the Council. So much was this the case that
I was asked as one of my first tasks to carry out a survey of
the condition of the property in the whole borough. This
survey showed that there were approximately 25,500 dwellings
of which roughly 18,000 were houses and 7,500 self-contained
flats. These dwellings were divided into those which were In
such a condition that they should be demolished within 10 years,
those that should be demolished within 20 years and 30 years and
those with a satisfactory life of over 30 years. No less than
6,000 dwellings were such that they should be demolished on
grounds of health and structure within the next 10 years, i.e.
nearly one quarter of the property of the borough. Approximately
5,000 had a reasonable life of 10/20 years and 4,500 with a life
of 2O/3O years, leaving approximately 10,000 dwellings with a
satisfactory life of over 30 years and this Included most of
the self-contained flats.
This gives some idea of the problem - the primary
problem which on grounds of health must receive the consideration
of the Council. It would appear that within 20 years over
40% of the borough should be rebuilt.