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41
PART 3
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
K, J, Winton, M,A,P,H,I,,
Chief Public Health Inspector
The three divisions into which the Environmental Health Section
was Organised in 1970 are now working very satisfactorily as
individual units, However, owing to there being a 25 per cent,
shortage in the qualified inspectorate during the year, the programmes
of work which had been designed for the divisions have
had to be shelved until such time as staff are available to
implement them, It has become obvious that the use of technical
assistants has come to stay and plans were commenced during
the year for their training at Colleges of Further Education,
The General Division carried on its usual but nonetheless
essential day-to-day task of dealing with routine complaints and
during the year a marked increase was noticed in the number of
complaints concerning accumulations of refuse and rubbish
dumped in alleyways and on vacant sites, Other complaints which
were dealt with by this division related to gipsies, to mice and,
in particular, to the smell from a glucose factory in York Road
(locally referred to as the 'Battersea smell'), Much has been
said and written about this factory, but, at the close of the year,
it was obvious that all the publicity, via the media of the press
and television, had achieved more than any statutory notices
could have done in bringing the problem nearer to a final
solution, The gipsies, however, are a different story, and although
attempts were made to find a site, the one which was offered to
them did not meet with their approval, and consequently the
solution to this problem has been severely delayed, Complaints
about mice also increased considerably and one of the worst
problems was on the Doddington Road Estate, Following a
detailed survey, the floors had to be taken up and pipe ducts
sealed off in order to contain the mice and stop them travelling
throughout the block, Once this work had been carried out, the
rodent operatives were able to eradicate the infestation, During
the year, this borough participated with other London Boroughs in
a mouse survey which was conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food, and much credit is due here to the rodent
officers of the Health Department for their work in this respect,