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It should be made clear whether the rooms may be used for any purposes other
than those of habitation, because it is believed that if left empty they will become
markedly damp, not only from the floors but from rising dampness in the walls
which may extend to the upper parts of the house. The air in those rooms will
stagnate and become foul, rubbish may accumulate and a state of nuisance may thus
be engendered. It is the ultimate fate of such rooms if closed for all living purposes
which causes concern. If they must be closed, certain structural alterations would
appear necessary; all openings should be bricked up, leaving only ventilation
spaces, while damp-proofing, horizontal and vertical, should be undertaken in some
cases.
Proposal (g).—The suggested definition of the word " tenant" is different from
that in the by-laws for houses let in tenements. This may give rise to confusion.
It would seem simpler to define the person who occupies basement rooms in a
scheduled house as " occupier."
Proposal (h).—It is stated by the Kensington Borough Council that hundreds of
basements in their district are still liable to floods in heavy storms and that in
consequence a very unhealthy state arises from time to time. It is asked that power
may be given to require concreting of these basements. These conditions must
be due either to deficient depth in the sewer levels or lack of capacity in the main
sewers. Apart from the Thames flood of 1928 and a few isolated instances in certain
areas of the City these conditions have not been experienced in Westminster.
Concreting was required by the Medical Officer of Health in the case of a number of
flooded basements after the flood of 1928 because it appeared then to be the most
practicable means of eradicating the nuisance and the extensive dampness caused
by the flood, particularly in those cases where no underfloor ventilation previously
existed. A concrete floor is necessarily cold, and may have other disadvantages.
It is now three years since the basements affected by the flood were concreted, but
dampness can still be detected in them and is, in fact, as prevalent as in those where
wooden floors were replaced and underfloor ventilation established. This is therefore
a matter which should not be made a requirement in these terms, but should be
expressed rather as an obligation to undertake the best practicable means of rendering
these basement floors free from dampness.
The following recommendations of the Public Health Committee were submitted
to and adopted by the City Council:—-
(i) That the proposal of the Kensington Borough Council be approved as
a serious attempt to deal with what has hitherto been a problem of the
utmost difficulty.
(ii) That the survey referred to be confined to houses coming within the
purview of the Housing Acts, there being no obligation to keep records
separate to those already being compiled under the Housing Regulations,
1925.
(iii) That standards be laid down on which to make declarations of unfitness of
underground rooms.
(iv) That provision be made for deciding the ultimate user of underground
rooms closed for all living purposes.
(v) That concreting be an alternative to other methods for dealing with
basement floors.
(vi) That copies of this report be forwarded to the Metropolitan Boroughs'
Standing Joint Committee and to the Kensington Borough Council.