[Report 1919] / Medical Officer of Health, Bewdley Borough.

  • Bewdley (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1919] / Medical Officer of Health, Bewdley Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/12 (page 7)
    Housing. 'riiere are 7U2 inhabited houses in tlie district, 47)9 of which are working class dwellings. During the year no new houses have been built. A sui'vey of the district was made by the Sanitary Inspector and myself in October 1919, in the course of which we visited 212 houses, and a report was made by the Council to the Mousing Commissioner. We estimated there was a deficit of 92 houses for the working classes. '['here is a very considerable amount of overcrowd- ing, largely due to the fact that young married couples are unable to find houses for themselves, and have to continue to live with their parents. It is impossible to deal with these cases, as no alternative accommodation can be found. The Council has yu-epai'ed a preliminary scheme for building 20 new houses, and contemplates the eventual building of 60 more. A site has been approved by the Goverment Inspector, and negotiations, with a view to fixing the price of the land, are in the hands of the Government Valuer. The general standard of the housing in the district is very low. The houses are nearly all very old, and, of recent years, partly, no doubt, owing to shortage of labour, the repairs, which are continually necessary in this class of houses, have not been properly caried out. The general character of the defects are (1) damp- ness, due to defective roofs and spouting, and, in many instances, to the soil being against the back or side walls; (2) lack of proper ventilation, owing to windows being small or unable to be opened; (2) lack of proper sanitary conveniences; and (4) defective paving.