View report page

LOADING AND TRANSPORT OF REFUSE BY LIGHTERS
Routine visits to refuse loading wharves and depots and the inspection of lighters engaged
in this trade have been maintained.
In the early part of the year a tour of the refuse wharves situated in the Middle and Upper
River District was made, with senior representatives of the Public Health Engineering Department
of the Greater London Council, on board the Launch "Alfred Roach".
It was agreed that the operational arrangements on some of the wharves were out of date.
Spillage, although intermittent, was, in the aggregate, too much to be condoned and was not in
accord with the Port of London Authority's drive for cleaning up the Thames.
Plans, both short and long term, were outlined in relation to each wharf. A period of investigation
and experiment into the possibilities of pulverising, shredding, and compacting refuse
and the feasability of incineration at central destructor depots will be necessary before a rational
evaluation of the whole subject of refuse disposal of the metropolis will be possible. An overall
plan will be formulated at a later date, which it is hoped will lead to closures and redevelopment
of some wharves and the construction of new wharves at more strategic points.
The local authority functions at all the operational wharves were transferred, during the period
March to November, to the control of the Greater London Council, with a notable improvement in
tipping operations and environmental control.
At the end of the year, there were eleven refuse wharves on the River or creek banks, two
depots with an integrated private dock and one wharf outside the District, but from which laden
refuse lighters pass through the District.
No prosecutions were instituted under the Authority's Byelaws during the year. Minor infringements
were dealt with immediately and directly by personal representation.
HOUSEBOATS
Benfleet and Canvey Island
The Essex County Council Act 1952 provides that the moorings of any houseboat within the
County shall not be lawful without the consent of the Council of the district in which the houseboat
is situated and that the council may require the owner or occupier to remove or demolish any
houseboat not authorised by them.
The Port Health Authority are, however, still responsible for sanitary supervision of houseboats
coming within the jurisdiction of the Port Health Authority, although under the Essex
County Council Act 1952 the local council in Essex is responsible for the licensing and stipulating
conditions under which licenses to the residents of houseboats in their area will be granted.
Functions of the Port Health Authority with regard to the sanitary supervision of houseboats
in Essex are safeguarded by Section 212 of the Essex County Council Act 1952 which provides
inter alia that no consent shall be given to moor any houseboat within the Port of London without
the previously written consent of the Corporation of London as Port Health Authority of the Port
of London.
Eighteen temporary consents were granted during the year by Benfleet Urban District Council
with the concurrence of the Port Health Authority. Although these consents permit human habitation
only four of the houseboats are permanently occupied. The adverse conditions in relation to
reasonable access to drinking water and the disposal of sewage and refuse, which have always
been a problem, have been reviewed and it is doubtful whether the licenses granted to these craft
will be renewed after this year.
Upper River Area
There are approximately 285 houseboats in the upper area of the River, mainly situated in
the Chelsea Reach. All are in good condition.
DANGEROUS DRUGS
During the year twenty certificates authorising the purchase of scheduled Dangerous Drugs
were issued under the Dangerous Drugs (No.2) Regulations, 1964, Regulation 13(2) of which is as
follows:—
(a) The master of a foreign ship which is in a port in Great Britain shall be authorised to
procure such quantity of drugs and preparations as may be certified by the medical officer
of health of the port health authority within whose jurisdiction the ship is or, in his
absence, by the assistant medical officer of health, to be necessary for the equipment of
the ship until it reaches its home port.
17