[Report 1942] / Medical Officer of Health, Salisbury & Wilton R.D.C.

  • Salisbury and Wilton (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1942
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1942] / Medical Officer of Health, Salisbury & Wilton R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (3) Housing. (I) Farm Cottages. The position with regard to these cottages before the passing of the Rural Workers’ Housing Act was that with the increase in mechanisation and the turn from arable to dairy farming many cottages were allowed to get into a derelict condition and finally close down. The uneconomic rent of 3/- for a farm cottage did not en¬ courage either the owner or the tenant farmer to improve or keep the cottages remaining in a proper state of repair. With the passing of the R.W.A. with its subsidy, although very many cottages in our district were put in order, and given a fresh lease of life, this did not compen¬ sate for others which were turned into week-end cottages etc. and let away from the farms and rural workers. ‘ The position then is that for every dozen good farm cottages there are many more not so good, some derelict and some of the better cottages let off to more wealthy tenants. The substantial increase in the farm-workers’ pay to put him on a level with other craftsmen should now enable him to pay an economic rent, i.e. one which will at least allow the owner to put aside something out of the rent for repairs, a position which has never been possible in the past. As it is the declared aim of the Government to en¬ courage rural life, it is obvious that there must be available cottages in every parish of a type to compete with the urban Council House as far as facilities go, i.e. water supply, electric light, cooking and washing facilities. To obtain an idea of the maximum number likely to be required it would be possible to circularise every farm in the district when an idea could be got of exactly how great the shortage was. All that can be said at present is that there is a definite shortage, greater in some districts than others, and that the general standard is too low. (2) Country Workers. These people are in as bad a plight as the farm-workers, in fact rather worse since the number of houses built by private enterprise to let has been for years extremely