[Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Solihull County Borough.

  • Solihull (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1949
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Solihull County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    By the policy so formulated six temporary bungalows were reported to the Public Health Committee as being unfit for habitation and incapable of being rendered fit at reasonable cost and in accordance with the procedure of the Housing Act, 1936. Four demolition orders were made and in two cases offers made by the owners were accepted. At December, 1949, two of the bungalows had been demolished. Five applications to site caravans were considered by the Council during the year ; four were refused and as the remaining one was adjacent to a permanent dwelling and was used by relatives of the occupier for recreational purposes only, formal permission was not deemed to be necessary. RIVERS POLLUTION. With the passing of rivers pollution work from local authorities to specialist administrative bodies under the River Boards Act, 1948, some local interest in the pollution of watercourses must in time, also wane, although some duties still remain to local authorities under the Public Health and Drainage of Trade Premises Acts with regard to liquid effluents discharged to sewerage systems. The advantage of local administration is that complaints can be dealt with quickly. No complaints were received of metallic poisons being discharged into the sewerage system during the year. Two cases were dealt with in an advisory way one of which involved the installation of a new barium carbonate filter to treat the effluent from a new chromium plating plant and in the other case assistance was given to dispose of a quantity of concentrated chrome solution without causing ill effects at the sewage works, or the river into which the effluent from the works discharged. Two other cases of pollution, one of oil found to emanate from a disused catch pit on the surface water system of a factory, and the other of the sewage effluent from a sewage disposal plant were dealt with satisfactorily. At dusk on the 14th July, a complaint was received from the Tame and Rea Drainage Board that a number of dead fish had been observed in the River Blythe, and investigations were immediately commenced in conjunction with the Deputy Engineer to the Board. Samples of fish and water were collected, and finally the mortality of the fish was attributed to asphyxiation due to the exhaustion of oxygen in the water by storm and organic pollution, together with the abnormally high climatic temperatures prevailing at the time. The number of new consents to discharge trade liquids into the sewerage system during the year was four. SHOPS. Routine visits are paid to shops in order to secure compliance with closing hour requirements and to enforce the welfare provisions of the Shops Acts. The state of the supply position has not led to the kind of competition which causes shops to be open after normal closing hours and welfare requirements are promptly complied with. PETROLEUM. 108 installations were licensed for the storage of 144,282 gallons of petroleum spirit and/or petroleum mixtures, and one was licensed for the storage of 56,000 lbs. of carbide of calcium. The income received from the payment of licence fees was £78 10s. Od.
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