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184
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
During the year the Council considered the question of the
Regulations as to underground rooms habitually used as sleeping
places, and the following were drawn up and approved by the Local
Government Board on the 26th May, 1911.
" REGULATIONS AS TO UNDERGROUND ROOMS
HABITUALLY USED AS SLEEPING PLACES.
" Whereas by Section 17 of the Housing, Town Planning,
&c., Act, 1909, it is enacted as follows :—
" Sub-Section 7. A room habitually used as a sleeping
place, the surface of the floor of which is more than three feet
below the surface of the part of the street adjoining, or nearest
to the room shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to
be a dwelling house so dangerous or injurious to health as to
be unfit for human habitation, if the room either—
"(a) Is not on an average at least seven feet in height
from floor to ceiling ; or
"(b) Does not comply with such regulations as the
local authority, with the consent of the Local Government
Board, may prescribe for securing the proper ventilation
and lighting of such rooms, and the protection thereof
against dampness, effluvia, or exhalation. Provided that
if the local authority, after being required to do so by the
Local Government Board, fail to make such regulations,
or such regulations as the Board approve, the Board may
themselves make them, and the regulations so made shall
have effect as if they had been made by the local authority,
with the consent of the Board.
"Provided that a closing order made in respect of a room
to which this sub-section applies shall not prevent the room
being used for purposes other than those of a sleeping place ;