View report page

METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF STEPNEY
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
43, White Horse Road,
stepney, E.l.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney.
Your Worship, Ladies & Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present to you my Annual Report on the state
of the public health in Stepney for the year 1962.
The 1961 Census returns show a decline in the population from 98,858
in 1951 to 92,000 (the estimate of the Registrar-General for 1962 being
90,4.80). Density, i.e. persons per acre, declined from 56 to 51 in the
last decade. Structurally separate dwellings occupied increased from
24,895 to 26,524; persons per room declined from an average of 0.94 to
0.86, reflecting some improvement in housing.
In the early part of the year outbreaks of Smallpox occurred in a
neighbouring county, and elsewhere in the country. This led to many
requests from the general public for vaccination by their family doctors
and at London County Council clinics. Numerous visits were made by
officers of the Department, to keep under surveillance persons arriving
from endemic areas abroad and secondary contacts of cases in this country.
Housing, in all its facets, continues to occupy a great deal of the
time of the Department. Numerous deputations have been sent by the
Council to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and to the London
County Council, with additional meetings at officer level to plan a
concerted effort to rid the Borough of its existent 'black spots'. There
is little doubt what ought to be done in the case of many slum tenement
blocks, and other sub-standard properties. However, the shortage of land
available for building at a reasonable price thwarts many urgent schemes.
Whilst agreeing with a comprehensive development scheme for the area, it
is irksome, to say the least, to observe large derelict areas left barren
awaiting planned development and meanwhile attracting refuse dumping and
caravan squatters. It is the conviction of many that revolutionary
methods of building and a rationalisation of the industry, coupled with
the will to make a top national priority of the need to provide decent
homes for all, could quickly remove the scourge of slums and squalid
overcrowded housing. As it is, a depleted public health inspectorate
spends an increasing amount of time in an attempt to enforce standards
in the worst type of property, often to the detriment of the necessary
supervision of property whose useful life could reasonably be extended by
maintenance of a reasonable state of repair.
2