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20
In March 1968 the City Council after considering a report upon the subject of noise expressed
the view that the following aspects of the problem should be examined as a matter of urgency and
requested the Association of Municipal Corporations to make representations to H.M. Government
accordingly:—
(i) The enforcement procedure under the Noise Abatement Act should be replaced or supplemented
by a speedier procedure.
(ii) Statutory undertakers and their contractors have exemption from the effects of the Act.
While appreciating the reasons for this, the City Council is not convinced that due thought
is always given to local residents in the siting and use of mechanical equipment. The City
Council feels that consideration should be given to the limitation of this exemption.
(iii) The recommendations of the Wilson Committee should be implemented as soon as possible.
During the year the City Council extended its publicity by exhibiting and distributing posters and
pamphlets on the subject of noise abatement via the various departments of the Council and with
the kind co-operation of the Citizens' Advice Bureaux, old people's welfare organisations and
commercial firms through the Westminster Chamber of Commerce.
Drainage and New Developments
There has been no change in the organisation of this section of the Department during the year
under review, i.e. all new buildings, larger alterations, conversions and adaptations being dealt
with by the same team of specialist public health inspectors and the smaller works being supervised
by the district public health inspector.
Of the 1,082 (1,036) drainage applications approved during the year 61 (93) related to new
buildings and a total of 12,024 (13,075) visits were made to inspect and test works in progress.
As the object of this service is to prevent drainage problems arising at the time of installation rather
than eradicating them after completion, no prosecutions have been found to be necessary.
The building of new and the conversion of existing hotels continues at an increasing pace and it is
anticipated that the Government incentives announced in April 1968 will add a further impetus to
this form of development. None of the new hotels previously reported as being under construction
has been completed, but an additional four have been started. The number of bedrooms in course
of construction at the end of the year in new buildings was in the region of 1,750. Conversion of
existing hotels both large and small would bring the total of additional bedrooms in course of
creation to approximately 2,500.
A feature of the year's work has been the modernisation of several West End cinemas. They
do not appear to have had anything more than small maintenance work carried out since pre-war
days, but have now been completely rehabilitated; one has been converted into two cinemas by
horizontal sub-division.
In the field of housing, 423 houses and flats have been built by private enterprise during the course
of the year and at its close, a further 744 were in course of construction. Another notable contribution
towards the housing problem has been made by the conversion of many of the large older houses
in the Bayswater area into flats. In addition, close liaison with other Departments of the City Council
and with the Greater London Council has been maintained in connection with local authority
developments which, of course, demand an equal degree of supervision.
Work to new educational establishments continues. Such long-term projects as the College of
Science and Technology, New Cavendish Street; Imperial College, Prince Consort Road area; King's
College, Strand; and London School of Economics, Houghton Street have all made considerable
progress during the course of the year. The Luxborough Lodge site consisting of a College of
Architecture, a School of Management, and two 22-storied blocks to be used for hostel and housing
accommodation, is now well advanced and completion is expected in 1969.
A new fire station in Harrow Road, claimed to be the most up-to-date and expected to receive
more calls than any other in the country, is nearing completion.
Sewerage
Once again, no reports of flooding from surcharged sewers were received and the officers
continue to work in close collaboration with those of the City Engineer's Department in trying to
ensure that, in new buildings, no sewer connections are made which would make the buildings
liable to flooding by surcharge.