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8
tended but these were necessarily limited by the inadequate
accommodation at the Cornwall Avenue Welfare Centre
which worked to full capacity. The Council's urgent needs
in this respect have been formulated and the approval of the
Ministry of Health is awaited to a scheme for a modern comprehensive
Health Centre on the vacant site adjoining the
present Town Hall. The form of this Health Centre will
be dependent on the proposals of the National Heath Service
Act, 1946, which will become operative in 1948. Apart from
functions connected with environmental hygiene, the direct
control of these services may not be permitted to the Borough
Council and will be the responsibility of the London County
Council. Consultations have proceeded with officers of the
County Council and your Council's proposals and intentions
have received sympathetic consideration. It is to be hoped
that these early consultations will expedite matters and
Health Centres of modern design and equipment, which even
in pre-war years were considered to be urgently necessary,
will materialise as soon as conditions permit.
On the 1st April, 1946, the entire responsibility for the
provision and management of Day Nurseries passed from the
Ministry of Health to the Borough Council. The demand
for places continued throughout the year to be greatly in
excess of the supply and this has been accentuated by difficulties
in obtaining staff, resulting in the restricted use of the
available accommodation. It is to be hoped that fuller
use of the present facilities will be made in the near future
by the introduction of part time workers. A review of the
present users was made in the latter part of the year and
the Council decided that a priority scheme should be instituted
which had some relationship to the social needs of the
applicants: these priorities have been set out on page 20
of this report, and it is with satisfaction that I record the
elimination of many hardships since the scheme was implemented.
It is unlikely that the demand for day nursery
accommodation will decrease in the near future as there is
an industrial need for woman-power and it will be necessary
for the Council to give consideration to the provision of