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FIREWORKS : SALE TO CHILDREN
The Metropolitan Boroughs' Standing Joint Committee was requested
by this Council to give further consideration to the possibili of
again making representations to the Home Office to restrict the sale
of fireworks to children to a short period immediately preceding the
5th November, or alternatively, that consideration might be given to
dealing with the matter as it affects London by way of a clause in
the next London County Council (General Powers) Bill.
The General Purposes Sub-Committee of the Standing Joint Committee
reviewed the legislative provisions concerning the sale and discharge
of fireworks, but felt that, in the absence of any substantial volume
of fresh evidence, they could not recommend the Joint Committee to
take action on the lines suggested by the Council.
VACANT SITES
The London County Council (General Powers) Bill of 1961 contains
a Clause empowering metropolitan borough councils to enter any open
land in their area which is derelict, unsightly or neglected and carry
out thereon such works as appear to them to be necessary for securing
that the land is put in a condition which is not detrimental to the
amenities of the neighbourhood.
In this connection, many Notices have been served and in one
case legal proceedings have been instituted resulting in unoccupied
sites being cleaned and tidied but the conditions recur from time to
time. A number of sites have been suitably fenced as the result of
the action taken.
REMOVAL OF AIR RAID SHELTERS
At the end of 1959, the Metropolitan Boroughs' Standing Joint
Committee was requested to urge the Home Office to give more sympathetic
consideration to applications for the removal of brick
domestic surface shelters, and suggesting that representation should
be made to the appropriate authority for the removal of air raid
shelters from the Council's Housing Estates.
The Standing Joint Committee felt that the situation would be
met if the Home Office were advised of these views, as the experience
of constitutent Councils varied, some having no difficulty at all.
The Civil Defence (Shelter) (Maintenance) Regulations 1956,
made it a function of local authorities to take such steps as are