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26
REVISED PROCEDURE FOR SECURING COMPLIANCE WITH NOTICES. With a view to
expediting compliance with Notices requiring the abatement of nuisances, the
following procedure was put into operation in July.
Directions to Sanitary Inspectors
1. INTIMATION AND STATUTORY NOTICES. The interval between the service of
the Intimation and the Statutory Notice should rarely, if ever, exceed
seven days; in a number of cases it might well be reduced to even one,
two or three days. Whilst the time allowed on the Statutory Notice should
be reasonable, taking into account the amount of work required, it must
not be excessive.
2. PINAL NOTICES. The final Notice should be served immediately the Statutory
Notice expires.
3. NUISANCE ORDERS. Legal proceedings to obtain the Nuisance Order should
be instituted immediately the seven days given on the final Notice expire
(in some special cases consideration might be given to the institution of
legal proceedings for non-compliance with the Statutory Notice).
4. (a) SUMMONS FOR NON-COMPLIANCE. Except in very special circumstances,
which should be reported in writing to the Medical Officer of Health, the
institution of legal proceedings for penalties for non-compliance with the
Nuisance Order should be commenced immediately on expiration of the Order.
(b) WORK IN DEFAULT. Where on the expiration of the Nuisance Order the
District Inspector, after consultation with one of the Senior Inspectors,
is of opinion the Council should exercise their DEFAULT POWERS, estimates
should be obtained at the earliest possible moment for consideration by
the Committee with a view to the necessary work being put in hand with the
least possible delay.
Revised Office Procedure. The office procedure with regard to service of
Notices was modified, as follows:-
(i) Mentor Piles. These are files numbered 1-31, representing each day
of the month, with an extension file for matters to be reviewed more
than a month ahead; all documents are placed in the appropriate file
for the day of review. Each day the appropriate file is taken by a
member of the office staff to the Inspector concerned for his
instructions.
(ii) Progress Cards, which, by the daily transfer of notes from the
Inspectors' diaries, give an up-to-date precis of action taken.
(Correspondence, incoming and outgoing, is kept "alive" in the mentor files
until the matter is finally disposed of).
The aims of the New Procedure are
(i) To ensure that complaints, Notices and correspondence are followed up
and dealt with with the least possible delay.
(ii) To make readily available an up-to-date history of the action being
taken in respect of any premises, enquiry or matter of complaint,
(iii) To enable Inspectors to take over another Inspector's district with
the least possible dislocation of work.
Information to Tenants, On the date on which a Statutory Notice is despatched,
the tenant of the property in question is informed of the present position and
of the time in which the owner of the property is required to carry out the
necessary repairs. The tenant is further informed if it is found necessary to
resort to legal proceedings in connection with the said Notice.
SECTION 87 (Collection and disposal of refuse). Responsibility for this service
devolves upon the Borough Engineer and Surveyor, who informs me that as in
previous years house refuse was collected weekly from dwelling houses in the
Borough, but in cases of blocks of flats collections were made at periods varying
from weekly to daily according to the conditions and circumstances applicable.