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45
WORK OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH INSPECTORS
W. Haworth, F.A.P.H.I
Chief Public Health Inspector.
I have the honour to submit a report on the work of the Public Health
Inspectors for the year 1970.
Housing work continued to account for a large proportion of the time of
the general inspectorate with special emphasis on the inspection of houses
in connection with applications for Improvement Grants and/or Qualification
Certificates. This latter work is carried out in close liaison with the Borough
Valuer.
During the year, Demolition Orders or Closing Orders were made in respect
of six houses, and Closing Orders were made in respect of two basements.
Two Clearance Areas, comprising thirty-one houses, were withdrawn
when agreement was reached for purchase of the properties by the Council.
In a town the size of Croydon, where large scale shop and office development
has taken place, the significance of the Offices, Shops and Railway
Premises Act, 1963, looms large in its application to such premises. With a
comparatively small staff in relation to the size of the problem, a lot of good
work has been done, although it will be a very long time before complete
coverage has been effected over the Borough. More detailed comment is made
in the body of this report.
The Pest Control staff of the Department has been greatly strengthened
by the appointment of a Pests Officer and the transfer of a general assistant
to rodent control. By this means the staff is now able to deal with a wider
range of pests including foxes, which infest certain parts of the Borough and
become a hazard to small livestock.Some success has already been recorded
in this direction.
The increasing incidence of food poisoning cases points to the need for
continued vigilance in this sphere of food hygiene, and during the year a
determined effort has been made to enforce the provisions of the Food Hygiene
(Markets, Stalls and Delivery Vehicles) Regulations, 1966 in respect of
itinerant food traders frequenting the vicinity of the Crystal Palace Football
Ground and the Town Centre. With the willing co-operation of the Police, considerable
success has been achieved.
Translation of food hygiene posters into different languages has proved
helpful to local immigrant traders and food handlers and enquiries in regard
thereto have been received from about twenty local authorities in different
parts of the country.
It is satisfactory to record the continuation of the Borough's Smoke
Control policy with the making of Smoke Control Order No.13. Only one more
Order is necessary to complete the original programme covering the area of