London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hackney 1955

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]

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36
SECTION 108 (Examination of sanitary conveniences, etc ) Under the provisions
of this section a council may examine any sanitary convenience ashpit
or cesspool, and any water supply, sink, trap, siphon, pipe or other works or
apparatus connected therewith, upon any premises within their district, and for
that purpose, or for the purposes of ascertaining the course of a drain, may at
all reasonable times by day, after twenty-four hours' notice has been served on
the occupier of the premises or, if they are unoccupied, on the owner, or in a
case of emergency without notice, enter on the premises, and cause the ground
to be opened in any place they think fit. Two notices were served under this
section,
SECTION 109 (Penalty for improperly making or altering sanitary conveniences,
etc-,). This section imposes a penalty on any person improperly making or
altering sanitary conveniences, etc., or unlawfully discontinuing any water
supply or destroying any sink, trap or other apparatus connected to sanitary
conveniences. Two formal notices for discontinuing a water supply were served
and complied with.
The section also provides for the service of a notice upon the owner or
occupier of premises at which any sanitary convenience, water supply, sink
trap, etc. appears to be in bad order or condition or to require cleansing,
repair, alteration or filling up, requiring him to do what is necessary to
place the work in proper order and condition. Penalties are provided for noncompliance
with the notice, but the sanitary authority may themselves execute
the work and recover their expenses. There is a right of appeal to a court of
summary jurisdiction.
SECTION 110 (Imp rope r construction or repair of water closets, urinals or
drains) If a water closet, urinal or drain is so constructed or repaired as
to be a nuisance, or injurious or dangerous to health, the person undertaking
or executing the work is liable to a fine not exceeding £20 No action was
taken under this section.
Under the various sections of the Public Health (London) Act and the bylaws
dealing with drainage, the condition of 6,114 drains and sanitary fittings
was investigated. Defects to drainage systems were remedied at 525 premises.
ABATEMENT OP NUISANCES SECTION 82, This Section, together with the Fifth
Schedule to the Act, makes provision for securing the abatement of nuisances
which are defined as
(a) any premises in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious or
dangerous to health
(b) any pool, ditch, gutter, watercourse, cistern, sanitary convenience,
cesspool, drain, dung pit or ashpit so foul or in such a state as to be a
nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health;
(c) any accumulation or deposit which is a nuisance or injurious or
dangerous to health
(d) any house or part of a house so overcrowded as to be injurious or
dangerous to the health of the inmates, whether or not members of the same
family.
Where a nuisance is found the sanitary authority has an obligation to
serve upon the person by whose act, default or sufferance the nuisance arose or
continues a notice requiring him to abate the nuisance within the time speci
fied in the notice, with the proviso that where the nuisance arises from any
want or defect of a structural character, or where the premises are unoccupied,
the notice must be served on the owner of the premises,,
If the person on whom the notice is served fails to comply therewith,
the sanitary authority is required to make a complaint to a petty sessional
court, and the court on hearing the complaint may make as respects the said
person a summary Order referred to as a "Nuisance Order". A Nuisance Order
may be an abatement order, a prohibition order or a closing order or a combination
of such orders A person failing to comply with the requirements of a
notice is also liable to a penalty.