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17
Order to purchase lands in the Clearance Areas and additional lands considered
necessary to secure a site of convenient shape and dimensions
for satisfactory development.
The above-mentioned recommendations were confirmed by the
Council at its meeting on 26th April.
Having prepared the Compulsory Purchase Order and carried out
legal and procedural formalities the Town Clerk subsequently submitted
the Order and relevant documents to the Minister of Housing and
Local Government for confirmation. The Minister ordered a public local
inquiry to be held to enable persons making objections to the Order to
be heard. The inquiry was duly held, when the Town Clerk presented
the case for the Council, and at the time of preparing this report it was
known that the Leyton Housing (Crescent Road Area) Compulsory
Purchase Order, 1956, was confirmed by the Minister without any
material modification. The Council has good reason to be satisfied with
the successful outcome of its first slum clearance inquiry.
The Crescent Road Area marks the beginning of a long-term programme
of slum clearance and re-development in the Borough and as
many years must elapse before its fulfilment it is inevitable—owing to
the shortage of alternative housing accommodation and the scarcity of
land on which to build new houses—that a substantial proportion of
the 1,500 or more houses reported to the Minister pursuant to section 1
of the Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, as being unfit for habitation
and liable to be dealt with under section 11 (demolition) and/or
section 25 (clearance areas) of the Housing Acts will have to be retained
and maintained for housing purposes for many years to come. The
Public Health Committee will therefore be faced for an indefinite period
with the problem of enforcing essential repairs to insanitary properties.
Details of inspections and notices served under the Housing and
Public Health Acts and relevant legislation are set out in the section of
this report entitled "Sanitary Circumstances of the Area, Part II—
Statistics." Information under this heading also includes the number
of houses classified as a result of inspections under the Housing Consolidated
Regulations, 1925/32, details of improvements effected to
dwelling-houses as a result of informal and statutory action (including
the institution of legal proceedings) and records.
Rodent Control.
The Chairman of the Public Health Committee, Councillor F. W.
Marshall, and the Chief Public Health Inspector continued to be the
Council's representatives on the No. 8 Workable Area Committee set
up by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, for rodent control.
The Committee, comprising some 11 neighbouring Authorities, meets
about three times per year and apart from discussing general methods
of rodent control and topical forms of treatment, investigate the results
of the simultaneous treatment of interconnected sewers carried out
bi-annually by adjacent authorities.
The Council's sewers were treated in June and December, each
treatment being of 4 to 5 weeks duration and involving some 1,000
manholes. All surface infestations are investigated by the Public Health
Inspectorate and arrangements are made, where applicable, in liaison
with the Borough Engineer Surveyor for drainage systems to be