London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Waltham Forest 1967
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Waltham Forest]
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Table 9 - Effects of Improvements
| AREA | POSSI BL E ADDITION O F BATH/ BATH & W.C. | % OF DWELLINGS WITHOUT BATH | POSSI BLE ADD TION OF W.C./BATH & W.C. | % OF DWELLINGS Wl TH NO O R ONLY OUTSIDE W. C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chingford | 150 | 100 | 400 | 90 |
| N. W'stow | 1,850 | 97 | 2,400 | 89 |
| S. W'stow | 2,987 | 64 | 3,912 | 70 |
| Leyton | 5,013 | 69 | 6,788 | 71 |
| Total | 10,000 | 71 | 13,500 | 74 |
N.B. These figures relate to dwellings which were inspected and exclude those
not inspected.
Dwellings with external W.C's only where an internal W.C. could be provided are included
in Table 8. These improvements would cover a high proportion of the dwellings lacking a bath
and/or W.C. or with external W.C. only as Table 9 shows.
The costs of these improvements would be nearly £6 million:- Table 10 — Improvement Costs
| COST OF IMPROVEMENT | BATHS ONLY | NO. OF CASES W. C'S ONLY | BATHS & W.C. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than £100 | 125 | 725 | - | |
| £100 - £299 | 600 | 3,975 | 1,200 | |
| £300 - £499 | 988 | 612 | 3,687 | |
| £500 - £699 | 175 | 150 | 1,650 | |
| £700 - £899 | 125 | 37 | 913 | |
| £900 or more | 12 | 25 | 525 | |
| Cost of providing baths only | £740,000 | |||
| Cost of providing W.C's only | £1,223,750 | |||
| Cost of providing bath and W.C. | £4,012,500 | |||
| Total cost | £5,976,250 | |||
N.B. The average cost in each cost range is taken to be the middle of the range,
and in the "£900 or more" category is taken as £1,100.
These figures under-estimate the true cost in two ways:
(a) They exclude some 5, 500 dwellings represented by those in the sample to which
access was not gained. Table 7 indicates that there may have been a further 1, 400 without baths,
750 with external W. C. only and nearly 1, 000 without a W. C. Assuming the same percentage of
these could be improved, as with inspected dwellings, this would add some 200 baths, 525 W. C's.,
and 788 baths and W. C. 's improvements. Applying average improvement cost of £370 for a bath,
£220 for a W. C. and £500 for bath and W. C. would increase the total costs to £6, 560, 000.
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