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64
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES.
To the Medical Officer of Health.
I beg to submit a report for the year ending the 31st December,
1950, of the work of the Sanitary Inspectors and other officers
under my supervision.
During the year there has been a welcomed reduction in the
number of complaints regarding the disrepair of dwelling houses.
The controls on building materials have been somewhat relaxed
and licensing restrictions have not been so severe, hence there
has been a steady increase in the number of houses which have
received their final war damage repair.
I think it would be true to say that in general the repair
condition of dwelling houses in the Borough is reasonably good
and it now rests with both landlord and tenant to see that, within
their respective spheres, this repair condition is maintained.
Prior to the war it was agreed that the areas of the Borough
most in need of clearance and redevelopment were those of Leighton
Street and Albion Street; and Wilford Road and Forster
Road. The Leighton Street redevelopment was commenced
before the war and left only partly completed at the outbreak of
hostilities'. Work is now rapidly going ahead to complete this
scheme and that of Wilford Road and Forster Road will shortly
be put in hand.
More attention has been given to the inspection of shops,
factories, workplaces and offices and it has been possible to have
repairs and improvements carried out at these premises on a more
ambitious scale than in the other post-war years. The various
Government Departments responsible for licensing such works
have been ready to co-operate.
Food inspection has taken up a considerable amount of the
time of the Inspectorate, as a glance at the tables under " Food
Supply " will show. The Sanitary Inspectors make routine
inspections of premises where food is prepared for sale, stored or
sold and during these inspections they examine food regarding
its fitness for consumption ; the premises regarding their suitability
for such trade and the methods of preparation and handling
of the foods to be sold. The proprietor is generally only too
ready to call in the Sanitary Inspector to examine food which he
considers unfit or " doubtful " and this attitude is encouraged as
thereby the chance of unsound food being sold is reduced to a
minimum.