Report on the overcrowding survey in England and Wales, 1936.

Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the overcrowding survey in England and Wales, 1936. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/186
    HOUSING ACT, 1935 REPORT ON THE OVERCROWDING SURVEY IN ENGLAND AND WALES Introduction . 1. Sections 1 to 12 of the Housing Act, 1935, together with the First Schedule, contain the specific provisions of that Act for the abatement and prevention of overcrowding. They set up a standard by which overcrowding is to be measured and provide for the fixing by the Minister of Health of “ appointed days ”’ after which, subject to suitable safeguards, it will be an offence to infringe that standard. A summary of these provisions will be found in Part I of Memorandum B on the Housing Act, 1935, which was issued to local authorities on 22nd October, 1935, and has been placed on sale. This Report. contains a sufficiently detailed description of the overcrowding standard and of the method of survey and forms used to make it complete in itself without reference to Memorandum B. | The first step in the campaign to abolish overcrowding was the carrying out of a survey by every housing authority to ascertain the extent of overcrowding in their area and the places where it existed. Section 1 (1) of the Act provides as follows : (1) It shall be the duty of every local authority before such dates as may be fixed by the Minister as respects their district, to cause an inspection thereof to be made with a view to ascertaining what dwellinghouses therein are overcrowded, and to prepare and submit to the Minister a report showing the result of the inspection and the number of new houses required in order to abate overcrowding in their district, and, unless they are satisfied that the required number of new houses will be otherwise provided, to prepare and submit to the Minister proposals for the provision thereof’. _ On 19th November, 1935, the Minister issued a circular to all authorities with the exception of the metropolitan boroughs informing them of the dates he had fixed under the Section. The dates were as follows :— aicie't 1. For completing the inspection of the working- class houses in the area of the authority .. Ist April, 1936. | 2. For preparing and submitting to the Minister a report shewing the result of the inspection .. Ist June, 1936. 3. For preparing and submitting to the Minister proposals for the provision of any new houses required for abating overcrowding .. .. Ist August, 1936. In the case of London, in view of the special provisions in Section 21 of the Act regulating the respective duties of the metropolitan boroughs and the London County Council, the dates fixed were slightly different. Although the metropolitan borough councils were the authorities for carrying out the survey, the results of the. survey had to be submitted to the London County Council for consideration and for transmission by that Council to the Minister. The date fixed for the completion of the survey by the metropolitan borough councils was 1st April, 1936, and the date fixed for the submission by the London County Council to the Minister of the ee on the survey and for the submission of housing proposals was Ist August, The present Report summarises for the whole country and for the various classes of authority shewn by the Index the results of the individual surveys. 2. Part II of Memorandum B-on the Act previously referred to sets out in detail the method of conducting the survey which, after consultation with the associations of local authorities, the Minister recommended all authorities to adopt. The Minister did not formally prescribe the recommended method and forms, but he pointed out that returns on a uniform basis were necessary to enable him to obtain a complete picture of the housing conditions in the country as a whole and, in fact, the recommended forms were used in practically every instance. The Overcrowding Standard 3. The standard consists of two parts; one part dealing with sex separation, the other part being a standard of capacity. Section 2 (1) (a) provides that a dwellinghouse is to be deemed overcrowded if the number of persons sleeping in the house is such that any two of those persons, being persons ten years old or more of opposite sexes and not being persons living together as husband and wife, must