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easterly direction through Wealdstone, crossing out of the district at
the Kenton Road, near Kenton Grange Farm. The Kenton Brook,
rising out of the district, passes near the site of the Little Stanmore
Sewage Farm to flow in a southerly direction through the Glebe Estate,
crossing out of the district near Kenton Lane, later to join the Kenton
Brook. The Edgware Brook, which rises in two sources south of the
Stanmore Village, flows in a southerly direction through Stanmore Marsh,
then easterly to Edgware, later to run into the Silk stream.
The largest of the lakes are those at Canons Park (8.7 acres and
10 mil. gals.); Bentley Priory (4.3 acres and 5 mil. gals.); Harrow Weald
Park (3.1 acres and 2 mil. gals.); Temple Ponds, Stanmore Park (2.9
acres and 2 mil. gals.).
PUBLIC CLEANSING.
Refuse Collection.
Refuse is collected once a week from some 70,000 premises. A
separate collection is made of waste paper from shops, etc. Collection of
trade refuse is undertaken at a charge. Kitchen waste, deposited in
about 1,500 communal bins, is collected in some parts by the Local
Authority, in others by contractors.
Now that it has been possible to restore the weekly collection of
house refuse, fewer complaints are being received. The greater ease
with which new bins can be now obtained also has reduced the number
of nuisances and of complaints.
The kitchen waste bins are still a source of nuisance, though this
is very much less where the bin has been provided with a surround which
makes it that much less liable to be knocked over. This surround
provides, however, its own nuisance if care is not taken thoroughly
to cleanse it when the bin is being emptied.
The recent decision of the Courts as to whether the landlord or the
tenant is responsible for replacing a dustbin at a house has caused much
additional work. In general, the Committee decided that unless there
was an agreement or there were any special circumstances which imposed
the burden on the tenant, then it was the responsibility of the landlord.
There have been many appeals to the Courts against this ruling, but
in general the Council's line has been upheld.
Refuse Disposal.
Before the war, the refuse of this district was dealt with by three of
the recognised methods of disposal, namely, by direct incineration at the
South Harrow destructor, by separation at the Wealdstone separation
plant, and by controlled tipping, mostly at the Cannon Lane tip. It
had been decided that when the plant was ready, all refuse should be
treated at the hyganic plant at Wealdstone, on which work had already
begun. For a number of reasons, including the low calorific value of
the refuse, the destructor and the separation plant were not used from
early on in the war, so that for many years all refuse was disposed of by
controlled tipping. The sites available for this purpose were diminishing,
and tipping was started at Old Redding. Complaints were received
in the summer months from those living near the sites at which refuse