View report page

SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA
PART 1 COMMENT
The employment of an adequate number of well qualified and experienced Public Health
Inspectors is essential to the operation of a comprehensive sanitary service. The authorised
establishment of Public Health Inspectors in Leyton allows for one Inspector for every 11
thousand inhabitants the officially recorded average for England and Wales is one Inspector
for every 9 thousand inhabitants. There are however many factors other than population which
have to be considered when assessing the number of Inspectors required to perform satis
factorily the work of a local sanitary authority. A district containing much obsolescent
property requires more intensive attention than one of the same size of more modern develop
ment. As a result of the Government's direction to local sanitary authorities to resume the
campaign of slum clearance and because of the additional responsibilities imposed on them
by new legislation for example. Pood Hygiene Regulations. Clean Air Act, Rent Act, introduced
over the past 2 years, many local authorities have been compelled to increase their estab
lishments thus aggravating the national shortage of Public Health Inspectors. Urban areas
such as Leyton are at a disadvantage in their bid for available technical staff owing to the
fact that they are unable to offer the attraction of working conditions such as can be
expected in rural or semi rural, or urban areas of more recent development. This means in
effect that districts which have the highest proportion of obsolescent property domestic
commercial and industrial and consequently the most acute problems in slum clearance,
housing maintenance and air pollution, are having the greatest difficulty in recruitment of
new staff and the retention of existing staff. At no time during the past year was Leyton
able to fill 4 vacancies on the Council's establishment. The depleted staff of 4 District
Inspectors (half of what is officially recorded as adequate) are fully employed dealing with
complaints, applications for certificates of disrepair the training of Student Public Health
Inspectors and other matters requiring urgent day to day attention, leaving little, if any
time for less urgent work and special duties such as slum clearance surveys and air pollution
surveys.
The adverse effect of the serious staff shortage would have been considerably greater
but for the fact that the Chief Public Health Inspector has undertaken a complete and
systematic re organisation of this Section of the Department. It may be generally understood
that the Public Health Inspector is a designated statutory officer, whose primary function
is to deal with matters which require investigation and inspection outside the office, but
it should be realised that to perform efficiently his statutory duties on the district, the
Inspector must also carry out certain essential clerical work and office duties records
correspondence, drafting of notices specifications schedules of evidence, preparation of
reports etc. as well as devoting sufficient time to the study of technical literature
and of the ever increasing flow of new Acts, Statutory Orders and Regulations affecting his
work. He is also required by law to keep a daily record of his inspections and of the action
taken by him in the execution of his duties and must be available at the office during
certain times of the day for interviews with complainants and other members of the public
recipients of notices etc. The administrative and procedural changes which have taken place
as a result of this comprehensive re organisation have proved successful in enabling the
inspectorate to expedite the legislative and clerical aspects of their work thus increasing
the time available for technical duties, district inspections and field work generally.
HOUSING AND NUISANCE ABATEMENT
The work of the Sanitary Department in relation to housing is concerned generally with
the repair demolition and closure of unfit houses, slum clearance and the issue of certifi
cates of disrepair. Dwelling houses are inspected as a general routine or on complaint and
statutory action taken as appropriate to secure the remedying of defects and abatement of
(23)