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35
The amount of petroleum spirit kept in the district is being
increased, mainly due to the provision of additional storage at
existing licensed premises. New Regulations controlling more
strictly the arrangements for filling tanks from petrol wagons, etc.
were made during the year, and the attention of all licence holders
was drawn to the new requirements.
The Home Office has issued a model code of Principles of
construction and licencing conditions for storage of petroleum spirit
and mixtures. This Code has been incorporated into the licences
issued in respect of all installations and is being enforced. The
principal new requirement deals with the testing of ageing underground
storage tanks and pipe lines.
PUBLIC CLEANSING, REFUSE COLLECTION AND
DISPOSAL.
I am indebted to the Cleansing, Transport and Salvage Officer,
for the following information :—
The volume of refuse is still increasing and this is in line with
the general trend throughout the country, due in a large measure to
the increased use of electricity and oil for heating. This trend
demands changes in our transport requirements which means
vehicles of larger capacity with some degree of packing in order to
maintain schedules.
The number of premises cleared was in the region of 27,000
and as some of these buildings, particularly the large ones, use
more than one bin, the number of journeys made by the collectors
is substantial. It is estimated that 1,500,000 calls were made last
year.
In addition to dealing with special accumulations from trade
premises, arrangements are in force for this service to be provided
to individual householders. A charge is made, based on the actual
cost of the job plus the usual oncosts.
Whilst the volume of work involved is not great it does provide
a useful outlet to people who have extra debris or refuse for
disposal, and is appreciated.
All night burning stoves are obviously used to a large extent
and these bring added dangers from fire, owing to hot ashes
being placed in the bin.
The weight of refuse collected was in the region of 24,600 tons.
A further 4,000 tons was received at the tip in the form of trade
refuse, gully contents, street sweepings, trimmings from verges, etc.
Kitchen waste amounted to 482 tons and is cleared chiefly from
individual containers in the Mottingham and Lamorbey areas and
certain schools. About 3,000 containers are in use.