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REPORT OF THE CHIEF PUBLIC HEALTH INSPECTOR
I have the honour to present ray tenth annual report on the
sanitary circumstances of the district.
There are no spectacular events to report, but progress in
all our activities has been steady and safisfactory.
Our achievements in Smoke Control have given us a pre-eminent
position in this field and many other Authorities have
drawn on our experience and knowledge of the subject. The
pollution figures published by the Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research show this district in a very good light,
our figures now being comparable with many areas which are
generally considered to be of a much more salubrious nature than
Hayes.
Statutory overcrowding has been further reduced and is now
virtually non-existent. Housing conditions will be further improved
when plans which have already been approved, to demolish
or close more unfit houses, are carried out in the next two
years. The introduction of Standard Grants has given a great
fillip to the improvement and modernisation of the older type
of house and there is ample evidence that next year it will be
possible to report substantial progress in this direction.
It is perhaps opportune to draw attention to a development
in staffing which has taken place in recent years and which
has not been mentioned before in these reports. During the past
three years five vacancies for Additional Public Health Inspectors
have been filled. In four instances the new Inspector has
been newly qualified with little or no practical experience.
The result of this is that the combined knowledge, qualifications
and experience of those Inspectors who are in closest contact
with the general public and who act as representatives of the
Council in their dealings with shopkeepers, factory management,
Property owners, builders, architects and other professional
People is less than at any time during the past ten years. The
post of General Assistant whose duties include rodent control,
disinfection, drain clearing etc. twice became vacant during
the year and here again it was only possible to obtain replacements
who had no previous experience in the work.
The work of the Public Health Inspectors involves the enforcement
of a mass of legislation, some of which e.g. The Clean
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