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8
that the Regulations have become sufficiently well known the Public
Health Committee will shortly be giving further consideration to the
question of establishing proper standards for the provision of washing
facilities and for the storage, handling and display of susceptible foods.
Of course the increasing trend to the pre-packing of all articles of
food, especially in 'self service' shops, has helped considerably to
reduce the unnecessary handling of food.
The quantity of unsound food brought to the notice of the
department has again decreased. Traders seem to have reverted to
the prewar practice of dealing with claims for damage and loss within
the framework of ordinary wholesale trading methods.
The quality and soundness of food generally has been maintained
at a satisfactory level. There is still, however, an element of sharp
practice in connection with the labelling of food, especially that sold
in packets. Many of these articles, however, are sold on a nation
wide scale and it is an unsatisfactory feature of this type of food
sampling that local authorities of all sizes and localities should each
have to follow their own individual enforcement policies and procedure,
restricted by slender financial and staffing resources, often
without any co-ordination of effort or policy. Whilst each local
authority is free to indulge in its own particular policy of sampling
and thereby, perhaps, keep a certain amount of local interest and
initiative, nevertheless, there must be a good deal of overlapping and
waste of effort. The proper examination of food samples and the
checking of the claims made by manufacturers on labels and advertisements
is an expensive business and it does appear that more
co-ordination is called for than at present exists.
HOUSING
Progress on the demolition or closing of sub-standard property
has been made but only at a slow rate because of rehousing difficulties.
However with the development of Westfields and other sites in the
Borough it is hoped to clear off the arrears of this type of work within
the next two to three years.
With the advent of the latest Rent Act the problem of dealing
with unfit houses which do not warrant demolition or closing has taken
on a new aspect. With the old rent levels the estimated costs of
repairs very soon soared above what was considered to be a 'reasonable
expense' having regard to the existing and expected income from the
house. With the more realistic rents now to be charged the expected
yields from property will now be sufficient, in most cases, to cover the
cost of substantial reconditioning. As soon as the position has settled
down it will once again be reasonable to commence house to house
surveys in those areas where years of neglect have brought the standards
of repair to a low level. Notices can then be served and whole
blocks of house property dealt with in a systematic manner.