[Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Ilkeston Borough.

  • Ilkeston (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1930
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Ilkeston Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/78 (page 27)
    (d) The extent to which houses do not possess a water closet or other adequate sanitary accommodation within their own cur- tilage was similarly found to be as follows :— (1) Number of houses with private sanitary accom- modation . . .. . . . . .. .. 6,881 (2) Number sharing common accommodation .. 456 5. —Unhealthy Areas. Although there are no serious unhealthy areas in the Borough, yet there are several small areas which will be dealt with under the 1930 Housing Act in the course of the next few months. Three small areas each consisting of either two or three attached houses have been dealt with as individual insanitary houses by Demolition Order. 6. —Byelaws relating to Houses, etc. This Authority possesses up-to-date byelaws with regard to new streets and buildings. There are no byelaws relating to houses let in lodgings. The byelaws referring to tents, vans and sheds have been in existence since 1914. They are capable of enforcement, but do not give wide enough powers. 7. —General Observations. The fact cannot be denied that the solution of the housing problem is to build more houses at rents that the people can afford, and the sooner this is done the sooner will the housing problem be solved. The housing survey showed that there were 116 families living in overcrowded houses who stated that they could afford a higher rent, and by that they meant the rent of a Council house. Altogether there were 1,333 families who intimated that they could afford a Council house, while the number who stated that they had made an application for a Council house was 668. This suggests that the Council need have no fear that any houses would remain untenanted even if 500 were to be built immediately. It is rather remarkable that in the course of the year more houses were built by private enterprise than by the Authority. With regard to the erection of caravans of a semi-permanent nature it is satisfactory to note that more firmness is being shown in en- forcing the byelaws which rules that no building shall be erected without the previous sanction of the Local Authority.