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A comprehensive draft scheme is now being prepared to deal with the
situation which has arisen, taking into account the Greater London Plan as
it affects Ilford.
A larger Pumping Station will have to be provided at Roden Street and
altogether something like 16 miles of new sewers will have to be laid, in
many cases under roads which carry a heavy volume of daily traffic. The
sizes of the sewers vary from 12-inch diameter to 57-inch diameter, and the
depths at which they will be laid vary from as little as 4 feet to as much as
24 feet below the surface of the ground.
It will be appreciated that such a scheme is bound to be expensive to
construct and the present preliminary estimated cost is in the region of
£800,000.
Surface Water—Main Drainage Scheme.
Present System.—The major part of Ilford drains into three main watercourses,
the Cranbrook, Seven Kings Water and the Mayes Brook. The
remaining areas drain directly into the River Roding.
The present system of watercourses originally drained open country, from
which only a small proportion of the rainfall (about 10 per cent.) discharged
into the streams. Subsequent building development has increased this "runoff"
up to eight times its original volume. Furthermore, Ilford was first
developed in the south, which is also the lower lying part of the Borough,
and new development has all taken place in the north and higher part of the
area, with the result that the early sewers are now quite inadequate to deal
with the additional flow.
For many years there has been recurrent flooding at several points in the
Borough and year by year these instances are becoming more numerous and
more frequent.
Proposals.—A comprehensive scheme has been prepared providing for the
improvement of the main watercourses in the Borough and for the construction
of adequate main sewers discharging into these watercourses. It is intended
to pipe or box culvert the main watercourses along their existing line other
than in Parks, where the open waterways form an ornamental feature. This
closed form of construction will prevent further nuisance due to the present
too prevalent practice of using the open watercourses as dumps for rubbish
and garden refuse, etc.
Incidental works include the provision of storm water storage and
balancing units by means of works to be carried out on the lakes in Valentines
Park and South Park.
The preliminary estimated cost of the whole scheme at current prices
is £1,200,000. This does not make any allowance for contributions which may
be claimable from neighbouring authorities, the Ministry of Civil Aviation
and other riparian owners who may be developing land adjacent to open
watercourses.
(iii) Sanitary Inspection of the Area.—The following is a summary of
the work of th? Sanitary Inspectors during the year:—
Houses and premises inspected 14,041
Houses and premises reinspected (works in progress) 24,206
Visits during disinfection 1,257
Houses in which nuisances were detected 3,443
Houses in which nuisances were abated 3,168*
Premises disinfected 522
Premises from which articles only disinfected 81
Articles disinfected 2,875
Premises disinfested for verminous conditions 30
*Includes 882 nuisances detected before 1st January 1947.