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- 41
UNDERGROUND ROOMS
During the latter part of 1951, a survey of Underground rooms
was undertaken,. This was completed early this yearThe survey was
carried out because of the need for an improvement in the condition of
the large number of occupied underground rooms in the Borough, with a
view to improving the health and living conditions of the occupants,
whilst the absence of a definite policy for dealing with underground
rooms was holding up action under Section 9 of the Housing Act, 1936,
to obtain repair of insanitary houses containing underground rooms..
Statutory Powers for dealing with underground rooms are
provided by Sections 132 to 134 of the Publie Health (London) Act, 1936,
and Section 12 of the Housing Act, 1936»
There are a number of differences in the requirements of the
Public Health and Housing Acts in relation to underground roomsThe
most important difference is that whereas the Public Health Acts deal
only with underground rooms which are separately occupied, the Housing
Act and the regulations made thereunder apply to all underground rooms
whether occupied separately or in combination with other room.
The question of the separate occupation of underground rooms
has proved a stumbling block in the past because changes in the letting
of such accommodation have been sufficient to take rooms outside the
scope of the Public Health Acts. The Housing Act requirements are
more definite in their application and simpler to operate.
Draft Underground Room Regulations have been submitted to the
Ministry of Housing and Local Government for considerations, and approval
for their operation is awaited.
The following table gives details of the underground rooms
examined during the course of the survey, together with appropriate
references thereto:-
CLASSIFICATION OF UNDERGROUND ROOMS
No. of properties Estimated number CATEGORIES - NUMBER OF ROOMS
with of
underground rooms underground rooms A B D E F
4,667 10,369 60 1,413 5,565 1,543 1,428 360