London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1956
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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table and show the trend in these diseases since the end of the war.
| Year | England and Wales | Kensington | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary Tuberculosis | Cancer of the Lung | Pulmonary Tuberculosis | Cancer of the Lung | |||||
| Deaths | Rate | Deaths | Rate | Deaths | Rate | Deaths | Rate | |
| 1947 | 19,753 | 47.3 | 9,204 | 22.0 | 71 | 43.0 | 58 | 34.9 |
| 1948 | 18,798 | 44.0 | 10,162 | 23.8 | 76 | 45.0 | 45 | 26.6 |
| 1949 | 17,471 | 40.5 | 10,975 | 25.5 | 56 | 32.0 | 50 | 28.7 |
| 1950 | 14,079 | 32.1 | 12,241 | 28.0 | 52 | 29.0 | 70 | 39.4 |
| 1951 | 12,031 | 27.5 | 13,247 | 30.2 | 36 | 17.5 | 70 | 40.9 |
| 1952 | 9,335 | 21.2 | 14,218 | 32.3 | 29 | 16.8 | 71 | 41.1 |
| 1953 | 7,913 | 17.9 | 15,132 | 34.3 | 26 | 15.1 | 65 | 37.9 |
| 1954 | 7,069 | 16.0 | 16,331 | 36.9 | 20 | 11.7 | 72 | 42.2 |
| 1955 | 5,838 | 13.1 | 17,271 | 38.9 | 12 | 7.1 | 73 | 43.1 |
| 1956 | 4,851 | 10.9 | 18,185 | 40.7 | 19 | 11.2 | 73 | 43.2 |
(Death rates quoted above are per 100,000 population)
It is of interest to note that whilst the death rate from
lung cancer for the country as a whole has been increasing in recent
years, the rate for Kensington has been fairly steady for the past
seven years.
Housing. The proposals for slum clearance which the Council,
jointly with the London County Council, submitted to the Minister of
Housing and Local Government in 1955 were approved by the Minister who
fixed ten years as the period for securing the demolition of the unfit
houses.
Of the total of 630 premises scheduled, the London County
Council took responsibility for 66 of these in the Fenelon Place/Warwick
Road area, and made them the subject of a clearance area. Subsequently,
the County Council acquired the properties. The clearance and
redevelopment of the area is now under consideration.
*
The remaining 564 houses were left to be dealt with by the
Borough Council and it was decided to undertake the task of dealing with
the Kensal New Town Area as a priority. The provisional redevelopment
of the area has been planned by Sir William Holford, F.R.I.B.A., M.T.P.I.,
and the first section, comprising 34 houses, was represented as a
clearance area towards the end of the year. At the present time a
Public Inquiry by the Minister of Housing and Local Government is pending,
there having been objections lodged by a number of interested parties.
It is probable that the Rent Bill, now being debated in
Parliament, will materially affect the Council's task of securing reasonable
standards of housing accommodation in the borough. As the Council are
aware, the freezing of rents of controlled premises since 1939, and the
tremendous increase in the cost of repairs and maintenance, has resulted
in the cessation of the Council's work of securing the proper repair and
maintenance of dwelling houses under Section 9 of the Housing Act, 1936.
This section requires that the Council must be satisfied that any repairs