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(11)
BARNET URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.
CHIEF PUBLIC HEALTH INSPECTOR'S REPORT.
Public Health Department,
31 Wood Street,
Barnet.
To the Chairman and Members of
the Barnet Urban District Council.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present to you my Annual Report for the year 1957.
Housing continues to occupy a fair proportion of the tine of the Department.
With the coming into operation of the Rent Act 1957 more work is necessary in
connection with the issue of Certificates of various types, although there has
not been a great demand.
The increase of rent permitted by this Act raises the values of houses and
thus varies the estimates made in the Housing Survey of 1955. In. that survey
one hundred and thirty-eight houses were considered to be unfit and could not be
made fit at reasonable cost. Increased rents ,in many cases, now mean that
what was unreasonable on earlier rents may now be reasonable. Repairs can now
be demanded and housing accommodation saved.
The new schedule of conditions attaching to Petroleum Storage Licences
adopted by the Council came into operation at the beginning of this year,
although this was perforce temporarily delayed due to petrol rationing following
the Suez affair. The testing of underground storage tanks over twenty years
of age is the main reason for the additional visits and time spent on this branch
of our work.
I wish to thank all officers of the Council and the staff of the Public
Health Department in particular for their co-operation and help throughout the
year.