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3
ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, 1954.
To the Chairman and Members of the Urban District Council of
Enfield.
I have pleasure in presenting my Annual Report for 1954.
The area of the District is 12,401 acres. The population is
approximately 109,200 and the number of inhabitated houses
30,685.
In my last report I referred to proposed legislation in connection
with Housing, Food and Drugs, and Slaughterhouses,
together with the awakened national interest in atmospheric
pollution, and I now wish to refer to the Housing Repairs and Rents
Act, 1954 and the Slaughterhouses Act, 1954 which both came into
force during the year.
The Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954 makes further
provisions as to clearance and re-development, reconditioning of
unfit houses, and repairs increases in respect of controlled dwellinghouses,
etc.
A start was made during the year on a survey of housing in the
District in order that, as required by the Act, proposals for dealing
with houses which appear to be unfit for human habitation and
liable to demolition could be submitted to the appropriate Minister.
That part of the Act dealing with repairs increases in respect of
controlled houses, has also involved considerable work in dealing
with applications for Certificates of Disrepair from tenants who
do not consider that the conditions justifying an increase of rent
are fulfilled.
The Government re-affirmed its intention to bring about a
moderate concentration of slaughtering facilities throughout the
country, but as this is a long-term policy, the Slaughterhouses Act,
1954 was passed. This made it the duty of the Local Authority
to secure that sufficient slaughtering accommodation is available
for the requirements of the district, to be responsible for licensing
private slaughterhouses, and if necessary the provision of temporary
public slaughterhouses during the interim period. There are no