London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Paddington 1962
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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32
The practice of sending warning letters to owners against permitting
the premises to become again overcrowded has been
continued in all known cases where overcrowding has been abated.
Section 80 of the Housing Act 1957 gives a local authority
power, where they are satisfied that exceptional circumstances
exist which make it expedient to do so, to allow the temporary
use of a house by persons in excess of the permitted number. During
the year the Council issued no licences under this section.
During the year a total of 201 (216) Paddington families were
rehoused by the London County Council and 194 (109) by the
Borough Council.
Housing Accommodation—Preferential Treatment
During the year 308 (150) medical certificates were referred to
me by the Borough Director of Housing for "pointing." Points
are awarded for certified ill-health, and if the applicant's health is
affected by his living conditions the Public Health Department
investigates these conditions and in many instances is able to get
them remedied.
| No. of basement rooms dealt with by closing orders | 60 (114) |
| No. of upper rooms closed | 5 (2) |
| No. of mews premises closed | 5 (1) |
| No. of houses dealt with by closing orders in lieu of demolition orders | 1 0) |
| No. of houses dealt with by demolition orders or in respect of which undertakings were accepted |
Twenty-five (10) persons were displaced as a result of the
Council's operations.
Closing Orders were determined or undertakings cancelled on
95 (100) basement rooms. Fifty-eight (69) other basement rooms
were made fit without recourse to formal proceedings.
New Accommodation
During the year the Council completed eighty-two (10) new
flats at—
Pickering House—26 Flats Macroom House—12 Flats
Cuthbert House—26 Flats Fermoy House—8 Flats
Campbell House—10 Flats
Housing Act, 1961
In my last report I referred to this new logislation which became
operative on the 24th November, 1961. Part II of the Act gave
local authorities new and stronger powers, introduced to deal with
unsatisfactory living conditions in houses in multiple occupation.
This has for years been a paramount problem in West London
in general, and Paddington in particular, where over-occupation
of large houses, deficient in amenities associated with a reasonable
sanitary existence, has been steadily increasing.