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24
experienced in coping with that legacy by reason of the shortage
of manpower and materials and the necessity for licensing restrictions,
is generally recognised, and the present conditions under
which the sanitary inspectors are labouring fully justify the
employment of at least 27 inspectors in this Borough, if any real
effort is to be made to supervise "food" and other outstanding
requirements under the Shops, National Assistance and other
statutory requirements.
In the thirteen weeks ended 20th March, 1948, 2,859 complaints
of housing defects were received in the Public Health
Department and, as a result of the investigation of these
complaints, 2,252 intimation notices were served upon owners
requiring the abatement of nuisances. The figures for the whole
year were 10,585 and 8,390 respectively, as compared with 4,521
and 3,977 in 1938.
In normal times the service of an intimation notice is followed
by periodical re-inspection in order to ascertain whether the
necessary repair work has been put in hand and by the service
of statutory notices as might be required. The sanitary inspectors
then continue to visit to ascertain whether the statutory notices
have produced the desired result. When the repair work is
started the inspector visits from time to time to ensure that the
work is being done satisfactorily, and he makes a final inspection
at the completion of the repair work. It is probably true to say
that a complaint of housing defects would lead to an average of
six visits before the nuisance was abated. Thus the service of
9,000 intimation notices in a year would entail a total of 54,000
visits by the inspectors.
The considerable growth in the number of complaints
received in the Department makes it quite impossible for the
sanitary inspectors to make anything like that number of reinspections
and to some extent the inspectors have had to rely
upon the tenants informing them whether or not the repair work
has been started. This is, of course, not as satisfactory as the
pre-war system of following up, but it is a position which is forced
upon the Department and leads to complaints to the Ministry of
Health, the London County Council and to individual members
of the Borough Council that the sanitary inspectors are not
dealing expeditiously with housing defects. This all leads to
additional clerical work. The position is such that many other
duties normally performed by the district sanitary inspectors are
being neglected. For instance, there has been no systematic
inspection of factories for a considerable time, no routine visiting
of shops, outworkers' premises, etc., and no routine house-to-