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- vii-
(b) to provide meals and recreation for old people, either
directly or through the agency of voluntary organisations,
and to recover such charges (if any) as the authority may
determine, having regard to the cost of the service.
Clean Air
Mr. G. Stubbs, Smoke Abatement Officer, is a member of the Executive
Council of the National Society for Clean Air, and the position
in Southwark in 1962 can be seen from his report.
Housing
The measures taken in regard to slum clearance are set out in the
body of this report. The Public Health Inspectors were also active in
drawing attention to sanitary defects and a substantial amount of the
remedial works involved were undertaken directly by the Council in default
of the owners. The unremitting attention which is necessary in
regard to the older properties in the borough to ensure that common
staircases and yards are kept reasonably clean, and to ensure the maintenance
of dust chutes, gullies, and overflow pipes, was mentioned
last year. The Housing Act 1962 and the Houses in Multiple Occupation
Regulations made thereunder strengthen the hand of the local authority
in regard to the properties which come within the scope of the regulations.
Unfortunately blocks of flats with separate toilets do not
do so.
The congratulations of the Council were extended to the Chief
Public Health Inspector Mr. H. Archer, for the excellent paper which
he presented to the Annual Conference of the Association of Public
Health Inspectors at Southport in September. The paper which was received
with a standing ovation excited a great deal of comment in the
national press.
Five blocks of flats being dealt with under the Regulations by
virtue of the fact that toilets were shared by more than one family
were seen by the Minister of Housing and Local Government during a visit
to Southwark, and later in the year as a result of representations from
the tenants' associations the Town Clerk wrote to each tenant inviting
details of any complaints concerning the property. Only a few of the
replies received mentioned matters which could be dealt with under the
new Regulations. Several large blocks of tenements fall to be dealt
with during the current slum clearance programme. Others, although
substantially built, are lacking in essential amenities and by their
bad arrangement lack sufficient light. Their replacement at lower density
involved decanting on a large scale.
Despite the progress which has been made the lack of housing accommodation
at reasonable rents continues to be one of the most urgent