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14
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHIEF PUBLIC HEALTH INSPECTOR
for the year 1959
Town Hall,
Anerley Road, S.E.20.
7th July, 1960.
To the Chairman and Members of the Urban District Council of Penge.
Mr. Chairman, Lady and Gentlemen,
I desire to present the Annual Report for the year ended 31st December,
1959, setting out the work of the Public Health Inspectors.
During the year Mr. H. J. Rogers joined the staff of the department.
Possibly the most notable feature of the work carried out during the year
was increased housing inspection, so necessary in a district where much of the
house property is over 60 years old and let in tenements.
As a result of the housing inspection work four clearance areas were
represented to the Council by the Medical Officer of Health.
Much work under slum clearance provision of the Housing Act, 1957,
remains to be carried out, and it will probably be ten years before the district can
be considered free of unfit property. The work must of necessity be slow by
reason of the absence of building sites within the district wherein the clearance
area population may be rehoused.
I feel obliged to draw the attention of the Council to the need of further
powers to deal with houses let in multiple occupation—known as Houses-let-inLodgings.
With the repeal of the Housing Act, 1936, local authorities lost their
powers to make byelaws to control these properties, including the powers of
registration and placing on the persons in control of such dwellings the duties
of cleansing and lighting of common staircases and the cleansing of sanitary
conveniences in common use, and sanitary fitments, powers which are, in my
opinion, most desirable.
Not only houses-let-in-lodgings cause anxiety. Blocks of modern flats have,
from time to time, been the concern of the department. Whilst most owners of
modern blocks of flats face up to the problems of service maintenance, unfortunately
this is not always the case, and instances of neglect in the maintenance
of lighting of common staircases, passenger lifts, gardens, together with the
absence of regular cleansing of common passage, staircases, drain gullies, come
to the notice of the department.
With the increasing development of multiple flat blocks one wonders whether
the time has not arrived for local authorities to possess legal authority in the
form of byelaws to deal with these problems.
During the.year 662 complaints (excluding those in connection with rodent
infestation) were received, the great majority being concerned with housing
defects and nuisances. All complaints'were investigated and appropriate action
taken where necessary.
In addition to verbal intimation of defects in premises, 285 written informal
notices and 45 statutory notices were served under the Public Health Act, 1936.
280 Intimation Notices and 43 Statutory Notices were complied with.
The local authority, in default of the owners, carried out works required
by five statutory notices under Section 39, Public Health Act, 1936.
The Council also did the work required by four notices served under Section
24, Public Health Act, 1936, respecting defective public sewers (previously
known as combined drains).