London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
West Ham 1923
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]
This page requires JavaScript
22
Housing.
The total number of houses in the Borough is 48,842, and
the number unoccupied 167.
The effect of the War on Building is clearly shown by comparing the number of plans for dwelling houses sanctioned before the War and after its commencement, supplied to me by the Borough Engineer:—
| Year. | North. | South. | Total. | Year. | North. | South. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1909 | 21 | 19 | 40 | 1915 | 6 | 9 | 15 |
| 1910 | 6 | 61 | 67 | 1916 | .. | 10 | 10 |
| 1911 | 21 | 112 | 133 | 1917 | .. | 9 | 9 |
| 1912 | 17 | 20 | 37 | 1918 | .. | .. | .. |
| 1913 | 3 | 104 | 107 | 1919 | .. | 2 | 2 |
| 1914 | 18 | 267 | 285 | 1920 | 2 | 15 | 17 |
| 1921 | .. | .. | .. | ||||
| 1922 | 2 | .. | 2 | ||||
| 1923 | 1 | 41 | 42 | ||||
| 86 | 583 | 669 | 11 | 86 | 97 |
The following houses have been erected by the Council in
1923: Manor Road, 120; Ladvsmith Road, 18; Cumberland
Road, 28.
In addition to the depletion of housing accommodation, the
War involved much restriction in the service of the usual sanitary
notices, which, coupled with the increase of overcrowding,
left the Borough in 1918 with an accumulation of structural
delects and impairment of domestic amenities which the Sanitary
Inspectors have not even yet been able to overtake, but an
estimate of their difficulties may be gauged by comparing the
number of summonses issued for magistrates' orders to execute