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29
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES
Part II of the Public Health (London) Act 1936, as amended by various
London County Council (General Powers) Acts, contains the main provisions
relating to sewerage and drainage. The Borough Engineer and Surveyor s
Department is responsible for the construction and maintenance of sewers vested
in the Borough Council but responsibility in relation to the discharge of
trade effluents into sewers is shared by the Borough Engineer and Surveyor's
Department and the Public Health Department In the majority of premises of
all types in the Borough both the surface water and sewage discharge into the
same drain In a large percentage of premises in the Borough the combined
drainage system operates i.e. the sewage from more than one dwelling
discharges into a common outlet drain The six cesspools still in use take
the drainage of one dwelling house, two business premises, a Civil Defence
Centre and dressing rooms on playing fields and are emptied by the Borough
Engineer and Surveyor s Department's staff as and when circumstances require
When a combined drain is found to be defective a notice is served under
Section 40 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936 upon the owner of the land
or premises in respect of which an inspection has been made under sub section 1
of Section 40 and if the person upon whom such a notice has been served
is aggrieved thereby he has the right of appeal to a magistrate s courts
The court hearing the appeal may apportion the cost of the work between the
owners of the various properties involved
Action under the various public health enactments was taken during the
year as follows
PUBLIC HEALTH (LONDON) ACT, 1936
SECTION 34 (Drainage Bylaws). A total of one hundred and twenty-five plans
of proposed drainage works were submitted to the Public Health Committee
Informal notices were served in respect of contraventions of the bylaws at
107 premises and a total of seventy eight formal noticed were served Legal
proceedings were instituted in eleven instances
SECTION 40 (Inspection of Drains). Notice of intention to examine drains
was served in respect of 95 premises and sixty notices requiring the repair
of defective drains were issued and these were followed in four instances by
legal proceedings Appeals were lodged against eight notices involving
thirty premises and in each case the Court made an Order apportioning the cost
of the work among the owners concerned