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Control large areas of the Borough is a considerable one,
and the Council, and the staff engaged on this work have
had a particularly busy year. If the present rate of
progress is maintained it should be possible to see the
whole of the Borough, the second largest in London, under
smoke control within the next ten years.
The Council have been helped in this work by the
willing co-operation of residents. Supplies of smokeless
fuel are now more plentiful in this locality, and most
merchants have been able to keep their customers supplied
with a satisfactory smokeless fuel. If householders would
be prepared to accept a suitable reasonable alternative
smokeless fuel when the delivery of the fuel of their
first choice is delayed, very little difficulty should be
experienced. There is good reason to think that the recent
introduction of the newer brands of proprietary fuels now
available on the market will help the supply position.
Housing has again been one of the Council's major
activities during 1959, and at the end of the year the work
on the Council's Slum Clearance for the five year period
ending 1960 was well up to the scheduled programme. With
the representation as unfit of a large number of properties
in the Glyndon Area during 1959 few slum properties included
in the programme for clearance by the Council before the
end of 1960 remain to be represented.
There are signs that the general standard of food
hygiene in the Borough has improved during the last year or
two. Housewives in general are becoming much more food
conscious and are taking more trouble to obtain food which
is fresh and of a high standard of purity. For their part,
most of the local food retailers are improving their food
handling standards, and the hygiene of their premises,
including the storage of food, and a number of improvements
to food premises were obtained by the Council during the
year. Food suspected of falling short of the requisite
standard of fitness is these days invariably put on one
side for the Food Inspector to pronounce on; this cooperation
between the Food Inspector and the food
retailer works to the advantage of all.
During the year the Council inaugurated a Pupil
Training scheme for Public Health Inspectors, and two pupils
are now engaged. The pupils also assist with Smoke Control
surveys.
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