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109
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION
No special campaigns were mounted during 1972, but, in their daily
contact with members of the public and food handlers particularly, the public
health inspectors constantly advise and instruct on matters of hygiene.
Formal instruction or organised groups on any aspect of Public Health
Inspection is readily given on request, and lectures were given to nursing staff
of a local hospital, schools and organisations and in-service training to the staff
of other Directorates.
HOUSING
In dealing with older houses there are two inter-related factors, namely,
fitness and the need to secure improvements where so many houses are capable
of rehabilitation.
The present legal standard of fitness under Section 4, Housing Act 1957,
in essence, is a structural standard which has worked well in the matter of the
clearance of groups of unfit houses and the demolition or closure of individual
unfit houses and parts of buildings used for human habitation. However, it is
an entirely inadequate standard where an unfit house is found to be capable of
repair at reasonable cost, because the local authority are unable to require the
provision of essential services and amenities. In reality, Section 4 is a standard
of 'unfitness' and in law a house must be considered fit unless it is so far defective
in respect of certain specified matters that it is not reasonably suitable for
occupation in that condition.
There is an urgent need to review housing legislation, including mandatory
powers, if living conditions in older houses are to keep pace with modern needs.
Surveys carried out by the Public Health Inspectors in connection with the
Registration Scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation, and General Improvement
Areas, reveal that houses which lack modern services and amenities are well on
the way to permanent unfitness and unless corrective action is taken, they will
continue to fall steadily behind modern standards until they become unfit and
a statutory responsibility of the Council.
Action is required not only to preserve houses which are a national asset
but also in the interests of the people who must of necessity live in these houses,
i.e. the privately rented sector.