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No confirmed cases of diphtheria were reported, and very few cases of food
poisoning. Measles was not present in epidemic form. During the mid-summer a
mild attack of sonne dysentery developed locally, several of the patients received
hospital treatment, and with the co-operation of medical practitioners those patients
remaining at home were kept under observation.
The large amount of work undertaken by the Sanitary Inspectors during the
year for the remedying of defects and the abatement of nuisances can be realised
by a perusal of those parts of the Report dealing with the sanitary inspection of the
area, infectious diseases, the inspection and supervision of food supplies, and
housing.
The amount of food passing through a Borough the size of Woolwich in the
course of the year is not always appreciated. Apart from the large number of
restaurants, cafes and canteens in Woolwich, the large quantity of food-stuffs
distributed at the Woolwich Market must also be kept under observation, and in
addition the equivalent of three of the Council's Sanitary Inspectors are required
to spend the whole of their time inspecting meat after its slaughter at the local
Abattoir. Itinerant food vendors and ice-cream premises are also regularly inspected,
and 800 food samples are purchased each year for analysis by the Public Analyst.
Altogether over 4,600 inspections were made of food shops and food premises in
the Borough.
Since the outbreak of the last war the Ministry of Food has been responsible,
with minor exceptions, for the slaughtering of cattle, sheep and pigs for human
consumption. During 1954, however, instead of the system of controlled distribution
of meat operated by the Ministry, free marketing of cattle was re-introduced, the
purchase of stock again being in private hands when control by the Ministry of
Food ended in July. However, a large amount of slaughtering continued at the
local Abattoir, which had been leased to the Government during the last 15 years
and has now reverted to private control.
By the end of the year 1954, the Council had begun formal procedure for the
clearance of the great majority of the properties included in the agreed slum clearance
programme for the period 1951-1956. Included among the properties which were
represented to the Council during the year as unfit for human habitation were 138
properties in the Greenlaw Place area.
With regard to future slum clearance proposals, a re-survey of the Borough
has been carried out by the Council's Housing Inspectors with a view to the
formulation of proposals, in conjunction with the London County Council, for the
second five-year slum clearance programme. A provisional list of properties to be
cleared by the Council for inclusion in this programme has been compiled.
The Borough Council and the County Council are required by the Housing
Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, within a year of the passing of the Act, i.e., by
August, 1955, to submit a joint programme for dealing with all unfit property in
the Borough.
This Act has re-defined the standards of fitness from a public health point
of view. The Act envisages the greater use of the Housing Act procedure for
rendering fit those unfit houses which in the local authorities' opinion can be made
fit at reasonable expense. Unfortunately, owing to the rise in building costs and
virtually no increase in rents, the Section 9 procedure has been of very limited
application since the war. Rent increases provided for by the Act of 1954 are
small compared with the increase in building costs. There is at the present time
in the Borough a not inconsiderable group of houses which are not so bad as to
be representable on the standards adopted; on the other hand, the total defects are
such that these houses cannot be fully repaired at reasonable expense, and therefore
it would seem that Section 9 procedure will still be of limited application.
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