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Closing Orders were made on four premises; three were first floor dwellings in Avenue Close; one was
a basement. Some of the buildings in Avenue Close collapsed during the year: there is urgent need for
redeveloping the whole of this area.
The Town Clerk is notified if the statutory notice is not complied with, and he arranges for the work
to be done either by informal action or by Court Order, or by agreement under Section 275 of the Public Health
Act, 1936. The work of carrying out repairs was referred to the Borough Engineer in default of the owners
in 105 instances, but the work was subsequently carried out by the owners in 23. Some owners pleaded that
delay was due to the War Damage Commission, but the Town Clerk communicated with the War Damage
Commission and they replied that they did not give prior approval to works of war damage in most cases, and
therefore the work required by sanitary notice should be carried out without delay. The Council asked the
War Damage Commission to expedite all war damage claims on properties where sanitary notices were involved.
Some owners delayed as long as possible complying fully with the statutory notice by carrying out
sporadically small amounts of work over a period of time, thus causing unnecessary inconvenience to the tenants.
The Committee instructed the Town Clerk to institute legal proceedings with the full statutory penalty in any such
cases referred to him by the sanitary inspector.
Although the number of complaints during 1949 was less than that in 1948, the work of the Sanitary
Inspectors' Department increased; the additional staff made more frequent re-visits with a speeding up of the
procedure. There was also an extension of the work of inspecting factories and food premises. The total number
of inspections and re-inspections for 1949 was 40,097, an increase of 3,535 on 1948.
In July, a deputation of tenants was received by the Committee concerning the housing conditions in
Carlton. The deputation referred generally to the condition of premises in the area, and in particular to the
danger to children from the lack of area railings. They also complained of the piecemeal efforts of landlords
in remedying extensive sanitary defects in some properties, and they requested the Committee to intensify their
efforts to improve housing conditions in Carlton. The Committee considered these matters and dealt with them.
Because of the difficult housing situation, the Committee could not take any wide scale action under
Sections 57-59 of the Housing Act for the abatement of overcrowding.
The population in 1949 increased from 179,900 to 181,120; the number of houses and flats erected was
as follows:
Houses erected by private enterprise 3
Houses erected by local authority 54
Flats erected by local authority 38
Total number of applicants on Council's waiting list at December 31st, 1949 8,372
In order to avoid the provisions of the Rent Restrictions Act, some landlords commenced actions under
Section 59, to evict tenants who had permitted overcrowding in their premises. This would have resulted in
the eviction of a considerable number of families, and therefore the local authority sent a deputation to the
Minister to explain the difficulties which would arise. The Minister of Health, under Circular 17/49, dated
March 16th, 1949, asked the local authority to issue licences for periods not exceeding 12 months, authorising
the temporary use of houses by persons in excess of the permitted number. The Committee instructed the
Medical Officer of Health to report to the Chairman any case of a landlord attempting to evict tenants because
of overcrowding offences, and at the same time to advise the tenants of their right to apply to the Council for
the issue of a licence permitting the overcrowding. In two instances the Court drew the attention of the tenant
to the provisions of this circular and refused to make an eviction order until the tenant had made an application
to the Council; in both instances a licence was granted. Three licences were granted during the year.
SMOKE NUISANCE.
The whole question of smoke nuisance from the power stations in Willesden was brought to the limelight
in February, 1949, by the public enquiry which was held by an inspector of the Ministry of Fuel and Power
on the British Electricity Authority's plans for the proposed extension of the Acton Lane Power Station.
The Council has received complaints of nuisances from smoke, soot, grit and sulphur from the three
power stations in Willesden over a period of 20 years. Certain improvements have been effected by co-operation
between the sanitary inspectors and the engineers at the power stations, and by the service of statutory notices
for the abatement of smoke nuisances in some instances. Nevertheless, the nuisances continued throughout
the years. About 20 years ago some of the chain grate furnaces in the Taylors Lane Power Station were converted
to pulverised fuel furnaces and an assurance was given that this would practically eliminate any nuisance from
smoke or grit. It was estimated that the much finer grit emitted from the pulverised fuel furnaces would be
dispersed over far wider areas. Unfortunately, this theory did not work out in practice, and the food, clothes
and homes of the people were invaded by large quantities of very fine grit. The Council therefore made further
strong representations, and an electro-static precipitator was installed to arrest the fine grit. The Electricity
Authority claimed that the smoke nuisance had been abated because 85 per cent of the grit was being extracted
by this method, but the remaining 15 per cent of the grit which was cast out into the atmosphere continued to
plague the neighbouring inhabitants.
The power station was partially reconstructed a,nd equipped with modern grit-arresting machinery
during the war, and although there has been some improvement, grit is still frequently cast out, and the nuisance
is made worse by the water vapour emitted from the cooling towers.
The nuisances arising from Acton Lane Power Station have been even worse than those from Taylors Lane.
They have not been improved by the fact that the power station is situated on low ground close to a large
railway junction in the centre of a large factory area. This station has been a constant source of nuisances
during the last 20 years, often belching forth smoke, grit, sulphurous fumes, and water vapour. In foggy or icy
weather, or under conditions when the wind and the humidity of the atmosphere are unfavourable, the surrounding
air is heavily charged with smoke, grit, sulphurous fumes, and water vapour, which is not only an intolerable
nuisance to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood but a serious menace and danger to traffic.