View report page

17
Perhaps the greatest value of the Clean Food Campaign is the publicity it has received, which has drawn the
attention of the ordinary citizen to the desirability of clean food. In the end it is the ordinary citizen who decides
the level of efficiency achieved. He can obtain the degree of cleanliness he is prepared to demand and pay for, quite
apart from the statutory efforts of the local authority.
bexhill holiday home .—The year 1950 was the first complete year that this Holiday Home had been open,
and its popularity among the elderly residents of the Borough showed no sign of abating. The house accommodates
sixteen visitors weekly and, apart from a few odd vacancies, was fully occupied from the 6th February until the
20th November, and for ten days at Christmas.
In order to assist in the filling of vacancies during the early part of the year it was decided that during the months
of January, February and March applicants should be offered fortnightly holidays, many old people having said it
was not worth going for a week at this time of the year. In addition a visit during these months did not count against
any entitlement to go during the summer months.
It was also decided, in order to ensure that summertime vacancies be allotted equitably, that no visitor who had
a holiday during June, July or August in 1949 should visit the home during the same months of 1950. This has now
been made a standard practice for any consecutive years.
All other conditions for applicants remain as stated in my 1949 Report.
During the year a wash basin was installed in each of the top floor bedrooms, thus bringing them into line with
the first floor. Some items of equipment were renewed, and certain repair work to the house was carried out. The
painting of the exterior was done, as this had been postponed when the house was purchased.
There is no doubt that there is a great need for a service of this nature for the old people of the Borough, and it
seems very likely that the difficulty in the future will be to accommodate all those who wish to spend a holiday at
Bexhill. Therefore, to obtain applications in good time and in order that the scheme should embrace as many of the
old age pensioners in the Borough as possible, notices, giving particulars of the Home, were made available in the local
post offices asking intending visitors to apply for vacancies during the months of October and November. By the end
of the year enough applications to fill the Home had already been received, as, apart from new applications arising
from the post office publicity, practically every person who had visited the home wished to go again.
housing.
Houses unfit for human habitation—
No. of basement rooms dealt with by closing orders 190
No. of houses dealt with by demolition orders or in respect of which undertakings were
accepted 8
Thirty-eight persons were displaced as a result of the Council's operations, fourteen being
rehoused by the Paddington Borough Council and three by the London County Council.
Six secured accommodation through their own efforts and fifteen are awaiting suitable
Council vacancies.
Closing orders were determined or undertakings cancelled on five basements and the upper parts of six mews
premises. Three houses were also wholly made fit following action under Section 11 of the Housing Act, 1936.
Basement Room Survey.
In accordance with the Council's desire to prevent the reoccupation of unfit basement rooms, the District Sanitary
Inspectors continued to report to the Medical Officer of Health the existence of empty basement rooms on their districts.
A number of basement rooms suitable for closure were brought to notice in this way many of which were subsequently
closed for human habitation, whilst others were brought up to the required standard without recourse to formal
proceedings.
Closed Premises.
A few cases of contravention of the closing orders in force on basements and the upper parts of mews premises
were discovered following a survey carried out during the latter part of the year. Warning letters were sent to the
persons concerned calling upon them to cause such unlawful occupation to cease within a reasonable time.
Compulsory Repairs.
Twelve Notices under Section 9 of the Housing Act, 1936, were served during the year. One Notice was complied
with, and works were in progress at five other premises. In two further cases works are being undertaken by the Council
in default, and at four other premises the works have not yet commenced. Thirteen Notices served prior to 1950 have
also been complied with during the year, and in one other case the work was carried out by the Council in default.
Town Planning.
A condition of the London County Council's consent to the conversion and altering of premises is that the Borough
Council must be satisfied as to the proposed user of basement rooms. During the year the London County Council
referred to the Borough Council for examination a large number of applications of this nature, and as a result of the
Council's observations permission was refused for certain basement rooms to be used for human habitation where
the rooms did not conform to the statutes and regulations in force in the Borough.