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Introduction.
To The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
County Borough of West Ham.
Mr. Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
I have to present to you my annual report upon the health
services of West Ham for the year 1931.
The work and extent of the department continues to grow, as
also does the number of citizens who make use of the excellent
facilities provided for them by the Town Council.
In several previous reports I have mentioned the proposed
erection of a Colony for Mental Defectives at Ockendon. The
first section of this Colony, with accommodation for one hundred
and thirty-four patients, was opened by His Worship the Mayor
(Alderman J. T. Scoulding, J.P.), in May of this year. It is hoped
that further accommodation will be added gradually until the full
complement of seven hundred and fifty beds is provided. The
accommodation at this Colony, by agreement with the CountyBorough
of East Ham, will be shared by patients from that area.
Under the Housing Act, 1930, all the bad or indifferent
property in the Borough has been re-inspected and scheduled.
Certain areas have been considered suitable as "clearance areas,"
others as "improvement areas"; also a large number of properties
have been repaired extensively by their respective landlords, under
Section 17 of the Act. A number of houses fit only for demolition
have had to be allowed to remain owing to the impracticability
of getting other accommodation for those tenants who would have
had to have been displaced. This applies also in greater measure
to "clearance areas."
A scheme for the erection of a large number of new houses
is now before the Ministrv of Health.
I he carrying out of work in connection with the new road to
the Docks has meant the demolition of a large number of houses
and the re-housing of the tenants on the site at Prince Regent
Lane: this has very materially altered the balance of the population
as assigned to the various clinics, schools, and District
Medical Officers.
The work in connection with the clearance of the back waters
°f the River Lee has resulted in the shutting down of most of those
factories on the City Mills site, which I have mentioned in my
previous reports as the only unsewered portion of the Borough,
with the exception of a few cottages at Temple Mills, which continue
to drain into cesspools. It is hoped that these cottages will
dealt with shortly under the Housing Act.
Slipper Baths were recently opened in Plaistow Road by Mr.
ouncillor Rumsey, and a large Public Bath, with all modern
facilities, is being built in the Romford Road.
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