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66
LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL BYELAWS WITH RESPECT TO HOUSES
DIVIDED INTO SEPARATE TENEMENTS
No action was necessary under these Byelaws during the year.
DISINFESTATION
During the year the household effects of 98 families were disinfested by the HCN process prior
to transfer to new dwellings, bedding and bed linen being treated by steam before delivery to the
new flat. No cases of reinfestation have been reported.
As usual, woodwork from condemned houses in clearance areas was burnt on the site and all
building debris carted away to a tip. It is probable that the rubble believed carted away to a tip
is, in fact, used for hardcore on other building works, and to this I can see no objection, as the period
which must inevitably elapse between vacation and demolition, is sufficient to allow the effects of
weathering to destroy all traces of vermin. In addition the walls and ceilings of new working-class
flats are usually finished off with a hard gypsum plaster and the floors with a float of cement, so as
to render reinfestation impossible. There does not appear to be any reason from this point of view
why the rubble should not be left on the site and used as hardcore in the erection of the new flats,
thus reducing demolition costs.
The fumigation of infested premises by sulphur or formalin is an inconvenient, objectionable
and unsatisfactory method and experiments with various proprietary insecticides were continued
with encouraging results and a total of 385 rooms were treated in this manner.
Tenants were again allowed the use of a spray filled with solution on paying a deposit of
2s. 6d., which was refunded when the spray was returned. A total of 68 issues of such sprays were
made during the course of the year.
ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE TO TENANTS IN COUNCIL FLATS
During the year the Council decided to give advice and assistance to tenants re-housed in
their flats such as is referred to in paragraph 22 of Memorandum A. General, which was issued with
Circular 1500 A. on 22nd October, 1935—particular attention being given to tenants re-housed
under Clearance Orders. The Public Health and Housing Committees accordingly authorised Miss
Sexton, the Woman Sanitary Inspector, who is also a qualified Health Visitor and Certified Midwife,
to make systematic inspections of the Council's dwellings. This procedure produced an improvement
in the flats of the less responsive tenants, and by the advice given, enabled them to settle down in
their new surroundings and benefit more fully than they would otherwise have done from the change
in their environment.
As a result of this work the need for the appointment of a full-time Housing Welfare Adviser
was realised, and the Council decided, pending the publication of the Report of the Central Housing
Advisory Committee on the management of Municipally-owned houses, to appoint a temporary
visitor to work under the direction of the Medical Officer of Health. This arrangement released
Miss Sexton for her normal duties and enabled the system to be extended to all the Council flats.
LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL ESTATES
During the year 1937 42 families were alloted houses on London County Council Estates on
the recommendation of the Public Health Department, in addition to other families applying direct
to the County Council. The following table shows the number of families accommodated on the
various Estates up to the end of 1937:—