View report page

(b) Street Cleansing.
Street cleansing is carried out on the " beat " system, each orderly being responsible for one beat.
The length of beat varies, the average being two miles.
Owing to the labour shortage the Council are contemplating the introduction of mechanical
sweeping to reinforce the street orderly service.
(c) Gully Emptying.
All street gullies are emptied mechanically at a frequency programmed at four times a year.
It has been the practice in the Borough for many years to require the owners of property to
supply new dustbins when necessary. Informal notices continue to be served on the owner, but if this
does not secure the provision of a new dustbin, the matter has to be considered carefully by the Health
Committee to decide, as provided in the Act, whether formal notice shall be served on the owner or
the occupier. Any person aggrieved by such formal notice may appeal to a court of summary jurisdiction.
During the year, one owner appealed against a formal notice and the Court ruled that the dustbin should
be provided by the tenant. Through action by the Health Department, 78 new dustbins were provided
during the year.
Sanitary Inspection of the Borough.—In addition to the work recorded in other paragraphs
of this Report, the Sanitary Inspectors continued their general duties of investigating complaints, abating
nuisances and dealing with contraventions of the Public Health Act. Originally, the sanitary inspector
was expected to exercise legal powers to improve environmental conditions. The legal powers and duties
remain, but today these officers are increasingly regarded more as advisors than as policemen. To give
good advice and to try to see that it is followed requires more tact, tenacity and time than to demand
that the law be obeyed—and often produces more lasting results.
Not all complaints brought to the Health Department deal with matters on which the Department
is empowered to take action, and in such cases complainants are advised, as far as is known, how and
where the matter may receive attention. Some particulars of the work done are shown below :—
Inspections following complaint 1,150
Number of premises at which nuisances, etc., were located 825
Number of premises where defects were remedied
(a) by owners or occupiers 746
(b) by Council in default 5
(c) public sewers repaired by Council 19
Informal notices issued 497
Written reminders issued 543
Statutory notices served 115
Total number of inspections and re-inspections 23,041
Inspections of piggeries 40
Inspections of stables 31
Inspections of urinals 182
Sinks provided or repaired 12
Roofs repaired 157
Gutters repaired or renewed 140
Brickwork, sills, etc., repaired or renewed 226
Premises provided with damp-proof courses 10
Sites covered with impervious material 4
Yards and forecourts paved or drained 17
External painting 32
Rooms stripped, cleansed and redecorated 317
Floors, walls and ceilings repaired or renewed 511
Rooms in which ventilation provided or improved 15
Rooms in which lighting provided or improved 2
Windows repaired or renewed 312
Doors and other woodwork repaired or renewed 77
Staircases replaced or repaired 10
Lighting to staircase provided or improved —
Handrails or balusters repaired or renewed 5
Grates provided or repaired 106
Instances where ventilation under floor provided or improved 3
Larders provided or repaired 8
Domestic cleansing enforced 5
Improper keeping of animals abated 7
Offensive accumulations removed 36
Pigsties provided, repaired, cleansed, etc. 3
Other repairs carried out or nuisances abated 94
Visits re infectious diseases, etc. 383
Complaints continue to be received of nuisance caused by pigeons. Apart from those particularly
anected, the public tends to be on the side of the pigeons, but the damage and nuisance caused by them
is considerable. Apart from the fouling of premises, they love cement and mortar, and thus open up
brickwork for frost and rain to attack. The public should not encourage pigeons by making food
available to them.
Throughout the Borough, unfenced land, rear passages, roadside ditches and ponds are used as
dumps for garden refuse, rubble, tins, disused water tanks, broken furniture, defective household utensils,
worn motor tyres, etc., and these accumulations are most unsightly. They are seldom "prejudicial to
health or a nuisance " within the meaning of the Public Health Act. The Department does what it can
to deal with these eyesores, but rarely can the offenders be traced. " Keep the Borough tidy " should
be practised by all.
17