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Matthew Hall Garchey System
In some of the most recent of the Council's Housing Estates to be opened, the Matthew
Hall Garchey system of refuse disposal has been incorporated. In each flat the sink has been
adapted to serve an appropriate container immediately below this. Any form of refuse up to certain
size limits can be discharged into this container which is also filled with water from the
normal use of the sink.
When full, it can be discharged to a collection sump which serves a number of flats and
this in turn is connected to a main draw-off pit at a suitable point to which the equipment of the
special vehicle employed, (at present on hire), can be attached. The vehicle is equipped to exhaust
all the pits along particular connection lines on the estate. The material in the vehicle
is then squeezed until almost dry and the water discharged into the sewer. The pits are so
arranged that surplus water overflows into the drainage system but this is safeguarded against the
ingress of solid materials. The compressed materials in the vehicle can then be discharged to a
disposal point in the normal way. There are some items which cannot be dealt with as described
and these are concentrated at one or two points on each estate and removed by the normal refuse
collection service as necessary.
Public Conveniences
The Council provide and maintain 19 public conveniences and 5 urinals, the latter usually
in proximity to licensed premises. Both sexes are catered for in all but two of the main conveniences,
and washing facilities are also available. Where facilities are provided for both sexes,
male and female staff are employed on a shift system to cover the hours of opening, normally
from 7.30 a.m. until 11.30 p.m. In two instances, (Hammersmith Broadway and Shepherds Bush),
extended hours are worked to meet exceptional needs.
No charge is made for the use of normal facilities but wrapped towels are available on
request and at small cost, in certain conveniences. All conveniences are subject to daily inspection
at least, by male and female staff, to ensure the maintenance of high standards of cleanliness
at all times. The annual cost to the Council of staffing and maintaining public conveniences is
currently £121,735.
THE HOUSING SERVICE
One feature of the Housing Service which normally receives little attention is the facilities
offered for mutual exchanges between tenants. It is not always realised that tenants wishing
to move, whether within the Borough, to another part of the Greater London area, or further afield,
are given every encouragement to find a suitable family to exchange with, and that a considerable
number of housing and employment problems are solved in this way.
The majority of such exchanges known to the Council are between tenants of the various
Councils involved, but sometimes a Council tenant effects an exchange to privately-owned properly.
There are doubtless also exchanges between two private tenants, but information on this
rarely reaches the Council.
During 1967 there were 57 such mutual exchanges involving at least one tenant of the
London Borough of Hammersmith. Eighteen of these were within the Borough, and a further twentytwo
were with tenants in other parts of Greater London; amongst the places involved were St.
Paul's Cray, Boreham Wood, Letchworth, New Maiden, Barnet, Carshalton, Brixton and Surbiton.
Eight exchanges also took place with tenants living in New or Expanding Towns, and the
list includes Bury St. Edmunds, Stevenage, Kings Lynn, Sudbury, Thetford and Harlow. The remaining
nine were with tenants in Canterbury, Luton, Southend-on-Sea, Farnborough (Hants),
Woking, Wincanton, Swansea, Hailsham and Gillingham (Kent). A number of exchanges have also
taken place, at other times, with tenants living in various parts of Scotland.
A record is maintained in the Housing Department of tenants, both in the Borough and outside,
who wish to exchange, and suitable people are put in touch with each other whenever possible.
As well as this, the Greater London Council maintain a central exchange bureau, which
operates under Section 22 (5) of the London Government Act, 1963. Many people, however, find
their own exchanges by advertisement in a local paper, or in a paper with wider circulation.
Another method used is to place a card in a shop window in the area to which a tenant wishes to
move.
It should perhaps be mentioned that not all the exchanges suggested are in fact effected.
Sometimes the size of the family is not right for the accommodation which it is proposed shall be
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