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5
a much more serious problem than is tuberculosis. It is not necessary
to cheat what I said in last year's report on this subject, but the
changing emphasis in problems relating to chest disease is once again
evident from the figures.
Last year for the first time I introduced a small section of the
report devoted to accidents in the home. I continued this in the current
year, and include figures for 1959, calculated as described in last year's
report. According to these figures, there was an over-all reduction in the
number of home accidents from 262 to 240, reducing the rate per ten
thousand of the population from 23.7 to 22.1. The proportion of the
various types of accidents did not, however, appear to have altered very
much. The figures given are not absolutely accurate, although it is
thought that they do not vary very much. Probably not too much notice
should be taken this reduction, but at least it is satisfying to note
that there was no clear increase in the number of home accidents in
Battersea.
included in the body of the report is some information about progress
under the Clean Air Act, 1956. I am glad to be able to
say that considerable progress has been made, and that during the year
the Council's first smo smoke control area came into operation and that
has been now been virtually completed in that area. The second area
has been submitted to the Minister and preliminary approval for the
making of an Order has been received. It is hoped that the formal
order will be made and confirmed in the autumn of 1960. Meanwhile,
work is Proceeding on the preliminary survey of the next area, and I
south of the able to report next year that a considerable area in the
South of the Borough is a smoke control area.
During the year, an opportunity presented itself for an interesting
and valuable survey of the housing conditions in the Winstanley Road
Area. This area has long been a special problem from the housing
and public health points of view. In previous years, parts of the area
had been represented for slum clearance, and progress had been made
in developing the area. There are, however many advantages in
dealing with the area as a whole rather than piecemeal and accordingly
arrangements were made by the temporary re-deployment of the Public
Health Inspectors, entailing some work out of office hours, to obtain a
Comprehensive survey of the whole of the area. Some 900 properties
were involved and each was meticulously inspected under the Housing
Act. The task took approximately four months, and it took rather less
than another two months for the Department to catch up with some of
the less urgent and more routine work which had been allowed to fall
behind The result was that we were able to represent to the Housing
committee a substantial part of this area under the Slum Clearance
Section of the Housing Act. What, however, was probably of equal
importance of the information obtained about social and public health
conditions in the area. Of the nearly 900 houses inspected, rather more
than one-fifth were found to be unfit for human habitation, within the
meaning of the Housing Act. It had been expected that a considerable
amount of overcrowding would be found. On the contrary, there were
in fact only 16 cases of statutory overcrowding, although, of course, the
existing overcrowding standards under the Housing Act, being some
25years old are not much in accordance with modern ideas. On the
other hand the degree of under-occupation was surprisingly large, that