[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lambeth Borough].

  • Lambeth (London, England)
Date:
[1938]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lambeth Borough]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/123 (page 9)
    9 Social Conditions. There have been no noticeable alterations during the past year, apart from the rebuilding of large areas in the district which have been cleared by the County Council following compulsory purchase and clearance orders. The Tanswell Street area is now almost rebuilt, and a start will soon be made in the demolition of the buildings on the opposite side of Oakley Street, where the living conditions have in some instances beggared description. The difficulties which arise where there is any considerable lapse of time between the confirmation of a clearance order and the actual demolition seem to be insuperable. When dwellings have been declared to be unfit for human habitation and their condition confirmed by the Minister after inquiry, it is questionable whether a sanitary notice served under the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, upon the owner can in practice be enforced in a court of summary jurisdiction. Something can be done at times, perhaps, by persuading owners in such circumstances to effect repairs, but more often than not this is frankly out of the question. A leaky roof of old pantiles is likely to be made worse by patching, and the only remedy is often to strip and re-roof. This is expensive and a clear waste of money when the premises are to be demolished as soon as the alternative accommodation is available. A similar dilemma is experienced when old drains are found broken or obstructed and cannot be cleared. It will be realised, too, that areas likely in the near future to be represented as clearance areas are treated as lightly as possible for some time beforehand in order not to throw unfair financial responsibilities upon the owners, and this treatment tends to accentuate the embarrassment to be faced when there is delay in clearance after representation. Both the County and Borough Councils have in the past year come to realise that new blocks of fiats to replace the old unsanitary houses are not in themselves a satisfactory exchange, as the limitations imposed upon tenants either by the Council's letting agreements or by the public opinion of other tenants, are found so restrictive as not to permit a full enough social life to satisfy their aspirations and desires. A similar failure to satisfy the reasonable demands and expectations of tenants in other districts