[Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Southport County Borough.

  • Southport (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1962
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Southport County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    96/142 (page 92)
    The Atmospheric Deposit Gauge maintained by the Department indicated that, ( j an average, 11.22 tons of solid pollution fell on each square mile of the Town Centtt^ during each month of the year. This gauge does not record gaseous pollution. During the year a number of talks on the subject of Clean Air, with particular refe^jSi ence to the domestic problem, were given by Public Health Inspectors to church guildj il and other organisations in the town, and in this connection a special word of thanks is di il to the North Western Gas Board for valuable assistance in providing, free of charge, film a projector and the services of a projectionist on these occasions. It was agreed that an amount should] be included in the Annual Estimates fC 1963/64 to provide for the establishment of two further smoke control areas in the Borougi,; f HOUSING General—The number of inhabited houses increased to 26,473. / The following table shows the number of houses built during the period 1953 i- 1962, plus additional accommodation made available as a result of adaptations and ao' ditions to existing properties:— Year . 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 Number of Houses built. 235 155 186 253 305 122 214 115 102 255 Fitness for habitation—In reports for previous years it has been stated that thi fitness of houses in the Borough was generally fairly satisfactory. This view appears to be confirmed by the result of the operations of the Rent Atj which came into force on 6th July, 1957, as the following details show:-— | Number of applications for certificates of disrepair: Year—1957, 119; 1958, 145 1959, 33; 1960, 22; 1961, 7; 1962, 0. Overcrowding—The number of complaints regarding alleged overcrowdin: received during the year was 21. In the instances where overcrowding was found t i occur the matter was referred to the Housing Department requesting that assistance b. granted. Demolition and Closing Orders—The task of dealing with the houses in th' Borough which appear to be unfit for human habitation, and which were the subjec> of a return to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government under Section 1 of thr Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, continued. This work has been dealt with through the Housing Maintenance Committe which was specially formed for the purpose, and 23 houses were represented to the Committee during 1962. During the year the formal procedure prescribed by the Housing Acts was com' menced in respect of 31 houses. The Local Authority are in favour of as many as possible of these houses being saved and it is hoped that the Improvement Grants and the new Standard Grants will encourage owners of old houses to bring them up to a reasonable standard and save them froix Demolition or Closing Orders. Improvements—The Improvement Grants mentioned above have continued t( play a useful part in the task of raising the standard of older houses which were buil without certain facilities which are nowadays considered by most people to be essential! to reasonable living.