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Repair of drains and private sewers is the responsibility of the users, and ten
notices were served for the repair of drains and thirteen for the repair of private
sewers. By the end of the year eight of the former had been complied with, and
ten private sewers had been repaired by the Council in default of the owners, from
whom the cost was recovered.
The function of sewage disposal was vested in the Greater London Council by
Part V of the London Government Act, 1963. Two disposal works are within the
borough, one at Deephams and the other at Ponders End. Large sludge drying
beds handling the sludge from the Deephams works are sited in the north of the
borough at Enfield Lock. The Ponders End works have remained in operation
during the year but the diversion of this flow is intended when extension and
improvements in sewage pumping capacity have been completed at the Deephams
works. The construction of works in phase one of this extension which includes
eight final settling tanks which are nearing completion, four additional primary
sedimentation tanks, and a curation tank, are scheduled for early 1969. A full
report on sewage disposal is made in the Annual Report of the Director of the
Department of Public Health Engineering of the Greater London Council.
For certain information in this report I am indebted to the Borough Engineer
and Surveyor.
PUBLIC CONVENIENCES
Under Section 87 of the Public Health Act, 1936, a local authority may provide
public sanitary conveniences in proper and convenient situations.
The Council provides 56 public conveniences, including those sited in parks
and open spaces. Staffing, cleansing and maintenance of these conveniences are
the responsibility of the Health Department. By arrangement with the London
Transport Board and with the brewers concerned, conveniences are also available
for use by the public at Southgate and Oakwood Stations and at seven public
houses in the borough. Formerly, eight public houses afforded this facility, but
agreement was terminated in respect of one of them.
During the year, staffing facilities were provided at a further convenience,
making a total of thirteen which are fully staffed, while the remainder receive
regular attention from a mobile team of cleaners or from part-time cleaners. Because
of the structural condition of two of the conveniences it was decided to close them
temporarily pending works of reconstruction.
During 1968 two mobile conveniences were purchased to provide temporary
facilities at The Green, Edmonton, when work commenced on the new road system
for The Town Centre Redevelopment. This work necessitates demolition of the
old conveniences but at the end of the year the road works had not proceeded as
anticipated and the old conveniences remained in use.
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