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While restrictions on the availability of food continue, it is important that the nutritive values of
the various foods should be appreciated so as to use them to best advantage and that owing to the great
expansion of community feeding, the best methods of cooking on a large scale should be used. To
maintain the general level of nutrition, quantity is not the sole consideration, and a careful selection
of essential foods in balanced proportions is important.
HOUSING
Shortage of houses continues to be a prominent feature of our social circumstances. The compulsory
and prolonged sharing of houses by families causes not only physical discomfort, but leads to
frustration and discontent, which reveal themselves in neurotic type of illness and unhappy and broken
homes. Scarcity of homes makes the start of family life difficult for the unmarried, and the bearing
and rearing of children difficult for the married. The numbers of new houses erected in the Borough
in recent years are shown below:—
1946-49 1950 1951 1952 1953
Heston and Isleworth B.C. 585 196 220 162 117
Brentford and Chiswick B.C. 34 — — — —
Southall B.C. 64 — — — —
Middlesex County Council — — 4 — —
Ministry of Civil Aviation 69 — 8 —
Metropolitan Police — — — 12 6
Private enterprise—
(a) new houses 79 36 23 24 27
(b) reconstructed after war destruction 184 — — 1
(c) housing associations — — — 50 140
(d) additional dwellings by conversion — — — — 3
1,015 232 255 249 371
Action under the Housing Acts is governed by "reasonable" cost. Delay in carrying out repairs
and maintenance, results in accelerated deterioration and ultimately in costly repair or replacement.
Action in regard to slum clearance and sub-standard houses continued to be postponed as far as possible,
but the department is only too well aware that this delaying tactic is creating its own problem. It is
not easy to decide, in the light of present conditions and the knowledge of future difficulty, what action
to take in regard to houses not in all respects fit for human habitation. In general, owners have been
co-operative and no appeal was made against notices served under the Public Health Act or Section 9
of the Housing Act.
A summary of the action taken during the year is shown below:—
Houses inspected 316
Defective houses rendered fit in consequence of informal action 286
Defective houses rendered fit in consequence of statutory action 30
Houses in respect of which Demolition Orders were made 2
Houses demolished in pursuance of Demolition Orders 3
Houses in respect of which undertakings not to re-let accepted -
Houses demolished where undertakings had been given 4
Houses rendered fit in consequence of undertaking given by owner -
Houses in respect of part of which Closing Orders were made -
Houses known to be overcrowded (Housing Act Standard) at end of year 42
New cases of overcrowding reported 11
Cases of overcrowding relieved during the year 15
Certificate issued under Section 12 of the Rent and Mortgage Interest Restriction (Amendment)
Act, 1923 1
At the end of the year, the following 41 houses subject to Demolition Orders or undertakings
not to re-let till rendered fit were still occupied:-
Situation Date of Demolition
Order or undertaking
2, Rose Cottages, Worton Road 27.9.38
11, (formerly 15) Wellington Road North 25.10.38
14, Brickfield Yard 25.10.38
16, Brickfield Yard 25.10.38
18, Brickfield Yard 25.10.38
3, Park Cottages 28.12.38
4, Park Cottages 28.12.38
75, Bath Road 31.1.39
373, Staines Road 28.2.39
11, Tivoli Road 28.2.39
13, Tivoli Road 28.2.39
15, Tivoli Road 28.2.39
106, Linkfield Road 28.3.39
45, Hanworth Road 28.3.39
32