London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Acton 1936

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Acton]

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23
The worst overcrowding is shown to be, for the most part,
concentrated in two areas; the East End of London, and the NorthHast
Coast. The County of London and the Geographical Counties
of Durham and Northumberland together contain over 130,000
overcrowded families, or about 40 per cent, of all the overcrowded
families in the country, while the percentage of total population
in these areas is only 16. The foregoing figures, taken for the most
part from the Report on the Overcrowding Survey in England
and Wales, enables us to appreciate more fully the problem of overcrowding,
and explain some of the results obtained here. Moreover,
in recent years, the overcrowding question in Acton has become
merged partly into that of London and Greater London, and
its solution is not entirely dependent upon local efforts. In the
early part of this century, Acton in a housing sense, may have been
a self-contained unit, but owing to the establishment of large factories
within its area, and the improvement in transport facilities, local
effort has played only a minor part in the solution of the overcrowding
problem. In the census report for 1921, figures were given
which showed that the number of people who came daily to the
district to work was greater than that which left the district to work
in other areas. In other words, the day population was higher
than the night population. Unfortunately, the figures for the 1931
census have not been published, but the phenomenon noticed
in 1921 undoubtedly became more marked during the intercensal
period, and the day population in 1931 increased relatively more
than the night population in the ten years, and although the night
population according to the Registrar General is decreasing, the
day population at the present time is higher than it has ever been.
Owing to the proximity of factories, there will always be
a keen demand for working-class dwellings here, and there will be
a number of people who will prefer to pay more rent in order to be
near their place of employment. As transit improves, distance
will become less of a handicap, except of course, on the score of
expense, and for this reason rents may always tend to be higher
here ; otherwise overcrowding here will be dependent not only on
the conditions which obtain in the district, but also upon the scarcity
or otherwise of working-class accommodation in neighbouring
districts.
Overcrowding is not a recent feature of the housing problem
in Acton, and a perusal of the Annual Reports of the Medical Officers
of Health and of the Census Reports will show that overcrowding
has always been o:ie of the most prominent features of our housing
difficulties. The first Annual Report of the Medical Officer of
Health for Acton which was printed was that for 1SS8, and Dr.