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In presenting the annual report of the Environmental Health Section for 1970
I am conscious that the resources of the Section have been under considerable pressure due
to increased responsibilities and the necessity for maintaining an adequate coverage, by
inspection and sampling, of the various groups of premises and the numerous commodities
for which the Section has a responsibility.
In the field of housing, applications for qualification certificates under the
Housing Act 1969 necessitated the complete survey of over eight hundred houses which
otherwise would not have been visited and resulted in works being commenced to improve
and bring the houses up to a state of good repair. The total number of house inspections
for all purposes exceeded seven thousand. Five unfit houses were included in new Clearance
Areas and twenty-one in areas previously declared and confirmed were demolished. Three
were made the subject of Closing Orders.
The impact of this work caused a temporary set back to the routine inspection
of food premises, but by the end of the period the majority had been inspected and follow-up
visits were being made to those in which an acceptable standard was not being met. Complaints
of unsoundness or of foreign bodies in food increased considerably. Every complaint was
thoroughly investigated, many with the assistance of the Public Analyst and in others that of
laboratory staffs of the manufacturing and processing firms concerned. In sixteen cases the
Authority resolved that legal proceedings should be instituted. The sampling of food for
chemical and bacteriological examination has not been neglected.
The inspection and improvement of premises in which persons are employed
continued. These, it is felt, will require regular visits in view of the numerous changes of
occupation and numbers of staff employed which occur in a relatively short period of time.
The year was a frustrating one in relation to the smoke control programme. The
recommendation of the London Boroughs Association that, due to fears of a shortage of solid
smokeless fuel, some Orders should be temporarily suspended, although allied to a request
that the programme in London should not lose impetus, resulted in a reduction in the finance
available for grants in 1971 and in the staff available for the work. It is now virtually certain
that the programme completion date will not be achieved.
The control of pests was extended to include foxes, consequent upon the Ministry
of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food ceasing its former activities against the urban fox. During
the year forty-four foxes were killed. Many were found to be affected by mange. The number
of complaints of nuisance from squirrels in roof spaces increased. Investigations led to the
trapping of a number, and consequent proofing works to prevent re-entry. Some success
attended efforts to control feral pigeons.
A systematic survey of the area to map ambient noise levels has been completed
with the assistance of the student public health inspectors. This will prove of great benefit when
investigating complaints relating to new noise sources which may be established in the future.
An unsatisfactory feature of the year's work was the disproportionate amount
of time expended inpreventing nuisance arising from the encampment on amenity land on the
St. Helier Estate, of gipsies and other itinerants occupying caravans and including in their
equipment cars, lorries, horses and other animals. In the absence of facilities their presence
represented a continuing threat to the amenities and a potential risk to health. It is essential
that an adequate and permanent site, equipped with sanitary and ablution arrangements drained
to the main sewerage system and suitably serviced, should be provided. Only then will it be
possible to take appropriate action to prevent the establishment of further unauthorised
caravan sites in the Borough.
The lesson to be learned from the year's work is the danger of important routine
work being, in part, neglected by the advent of new and immediate duties and problems. To
overcome this and to enable the Inspectorate to acquire a deeper knowledge of the many
facets of the work, consideration is being given to the establishment of groups or teams of
staff each concentrating attention on a particular function but capable of being immediately
interchangeable in the event of changing circumstances and periodically subject to reorganisation
to ensure that each public health inspector is enabled to maintain his wide knowledge and
develop his experience over the whole range of duties which are included in the Environmental
Health Service.
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