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1924]
44
The evidence of the Medical Officer of Health prepared for the Enquiry is
appended.
Evidence for local enquiry as to the conditioti of premises referred to in official
representation, dated 31si August, 192a, made to the London C(Jimty Council
by George Clark Trotter, M.D., F.R.S. (Ed.), Medical Officer of Health of
the Metropolitan Borough of Islington.
3rd December, 1924.
The premises are comprised in an area which may conveniently be divided
into two sections, one on either side of Holloway Road, which have been
named for convenience the BRAND STREET and GEORGE'S ROAD
AREAS, the last-named, the George's Road Area, being in two portions,
which may be termed HARTNOLL STREET AND HOPE PLACE
SECTIONS.
All the premises comprised in these areas have, since 1919, been the
subject of Representations to the Islington Borough Council in respect of
their serious condition, and my predecessor, the late Medical Officer of Health,
had a minute survey made of them at the time. The conditions, however,
have progressively become worse with the further deterioration of the
properties.
Brand Street Area.
Many houses are more than a century old and of such construction that
to render them suitable for occupation of a family, according to the recognised
rules of modern sanitation and domestic hygiene, there would be
entailed on the owner such considerable expenditure of money which would
be impossible to be recovered from the rents obtained in the locality.
Some attempt was made in 1911 to repair three of the houses in Brand
Street, but the service of notices for nuisances in 1919 in respect of some of
the properties had to be continued, the owner bitterly complaining that the
property was carried on at a loss. Similarly in the same year the owner of
Osnaburgh Cottages upon acquiring the property attempted to improve their
condition in order to comply with the notices served, with indifferent results.
The neighbourhood bore a bad reputation because of prostitutes who
occupied some of the furnished rooms, but through the vigilence of the
Women's Section of the Metropolitan Police Force this evil was removed.
The occupiers are now of the working class. The insanitary condition of the
properties probably commenced owing to the reputation the area bore, because
few respectable people would live there, and subsequently the houses became
occupied by people with large families who could ill-afford the rents of houses
in better neighbourhoods.
George's Road Area.
Some years previous to 1919 an attempt was made to improve Bratton
Street in this area. Back-to--back houses were converted into single houses;
damp-proof courses were inserted in the walls, and a large common yard was
converted into private yards. Unequal settlements of the old walls fractured
the damp-proof courses in places, the old roofs sagged, and gutterings became