[Report 1963] / Medical Officer of Health, Wednesbury Borough.

  • Wednesbury (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1963
Catalogue details

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

Credit: [Report 1963] / Medical Officer of Health, Wednesbury Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/48 (page 6)
    has fallen from its high post-war average level of 20 to 17 per thousand total population, a rate which corresponds quite closely with the average for England and Wales as a whole. From this it can be deduced, in general terms, that the reproductive pattern of Wednesbury is tending to follow a more or less traditional form, being free from the influence of massive population variations such as are experienced in overspill areas, in which a sharp rise in total population is accompanied by the development of a marked preponderance in the proportion of people living within the poten¬ tially active childbearing years of life, and the nature of the living accommodation provided has, therefore, to be related to the needs of younger families. Added to this is the possibility, indeed probability, of industrial changes, such as the absorption or extinction of small enterprises, or the spread of automation in larger industries, which may well be reflected in the outward movement of young people in pursuit of suitable employment beyond the town boundary. Some of these are likely to settle down to live nearer to their place of work, thereby obviating any need for a house in Wednesbury. With a static, or even diminish¬ ing, population, the problem thus becomes one of, having decided on the desirability of flats, how few blocks should be built, how tall, and how the accommodation they contain might be appor¬ tioned. It is suggested that it would be preferable, as far as possible, to house families with young children in traditional houses or maisonettes, leaving the more circumscribed accommodation offered in blocks of flats to the older members of the community, with the recommendation that several blocks of a few storeys high would be more generally adaptable than one or two containing many storeys. Before leaving the subject of housing, reference should be made to the additional work caused to the Public Health Inspectors by the influx of overseas immigrants to the town who have tended to gravitate to the larger old houses of the town, such as former Public Houses, there to produce conditions described as Multi¬ occupation. This term does not necessarily imply statutory overcrowding, but the situation has resulted in every available habitable room, or part of a room, being occupied, including attics, which may well have stood empty and neglected for many years. The hazards of fire have been evident, particularly where oil-stoves are used for heating, and the conditions eminently suitable for the spread of certain infectious diseases, notably Tuberculosis, have been all too frequently observed. Virgorous efforts are being made to control this new development but, in any case, with the gradual reduction in the number of such premises through individual demolition or compulsory purchase, these regretted reversions to conditions thought to have been almost