View report page

73032
Borough of Twickenham.
Public Health Department,
Municipal Offices,
Twickenham.
June, 1934.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Twickenham.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Report on the health and sanitary conditions of the
Borough during the year 1933, and on the measures taken to safeguard and improve the health
of the inhabitants.
The increase in the population continues at a rate which would have occasioned surprise
a few years ago, but which is now accepted as a regular occurrence. The Registrar General's
estimate of the population to the middle of the year was 11,550 and the figure at the end
of the year had probably reached 42,000. The Whitton portion of the district, which a year
or two ago was almost rural in character, is now becoming covered with houses and their
attendant shops, the Chertsey arterial road has reached Twickenham, the centre of the
populated area of the Borough is rapidly moving westwards and, at the present rate of
building, Twickenham, if restricted to her present borders, will soon become a built-up area.
The regular work of safeguarding the health of the town has been continued actively
in all its various branches. From the pages which follow, it will be seen that the representation
and demolition of dwellings, which are no longer fit for habitation, has been a matter which
has received special attention. Many of these have been demolished and their occupants
re-housed in modern dwellings, but there are still too many houses which are occupied by two,
three or more families without the provision of adequate and separate conveniences, both
domestic and sanitary. The necessity for the solution of this problem is more urgent, as far
as Twickenham is concerned, than that of overcrowding, at any rate as judged by the present
accepted standards.
I am, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
George. H. Duport.
Medical Officer of Health.