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properties. The remedy was the construction of 70 yards of surface
water sewer and a new manhole in Paines Lane.
The River Pinn. Particularly during hot weather, complaints are
received from those living nearby of the condition of the river and of
smells. The Pinn is the natural drainage channel for much of Pinner and
Hatch End. For most of its length it lies within the catchment area of
the River Thames above Teddington Lock. By an order made in 1937,
under the Land Drainage Act, 1930, the Thames Conservancy Board
exercises their powers in regard only to certain parts of the river; they
have not assumed control for the culverted sections. Under the Thames
Conservancy Act, 1932, as amended in 1950, the Conservancy Board were
charged with the conservancy, preservation and regulation of the Thames
above the landward limit of the Port of London. Their powers and duties
include the conservancy, navigation and regulation of water, including the
power to carry out works, and the prevention of pollution. This latter
includes the power to prosecute those who deposit rubbish, etc., into the
watercourse. Under the 1930 Act, the Conservators have power to
cleanse, repair or otherwise maintain efficiently any existing watercourse
and to deepen, widen, straighten or otherwise improve any existing
watercourse or remove obstruction to watercourses. The Thames
Conservancy has, in fact, from time to time carried out works to remove
obstructions from the Pinn to ensure the purity of the flow. It is understood
that they have no proposals for extensive improvement works.
The Council is concerned about the condition of the Pinn for a
number of reasons. One is that at times sewage overflow enters the river.
This comes about because when the foul sewer was laid in Pinner about
1870, provision was made at intervals for storm water overflows to
discharge foul water above a certain degree of dilution into the Pinn.
Because of the recent large building development, the dry water flow has
increasingly approached the volume at which an overflow into the river
occurs, so that in recent years this overflow has not been sufficiently
diluted. The erosion of the banks has left exposed tree roots when the
river is running high, and foul matter collects at these points. It was
partly to reduce this problem that the Pinner relief foul water sewer
scheme was put in hand. When the works are completed, all the storm
water overflows will be stopped-up, and there should be no further
pollution of the river by Council sewers. Then for short lengths the
Council is itself the owner of property which borders part of the river and
has some responsibility for keeping down any trouble which might arise
in those places. Apart from these aspects, the Council is concerned
when any body of persons is subjected to a nuisance or annoyance.
Section 259 of the Public Health Act includes among statutory nuisances
"a watercourse which is so foul or in such a state as to be prejudicial
to health or a nuisance, and a watercourse which is so choked or silted-up
as to obstruct or impede the proper flow of water and thereby cause a
nuisance or give rise to conditions prejudicial to health." The same
section makes it an offence to throw or deposit cinders, etc., or other
matter likely to cause annoyance into or in any river, stream or watercourse.
Quite apart from what might follow on the introductiion of
sewage into the river, trouble arises from obstruction to the flow. Soil