[Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Coventry County & City.

  • Coventry (England). County and City Council.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Coventry County & City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    91/158 (page 85)
    vitally concerned in this work, as well as having to approve the “life” of the properties dealt with in this manner. The experience in Coventry is similar to that elsewhere in the country in connec- tion.with these grants, that is to say, almost all of the applications in respect of them are from owner/occupiers. There is still vital need for landlords of rented property to consider this method of reconditioning their rented dwellings. Meat rationing ceased on the ist July this year and arrange- ments had to be quickly made to provide for the meat insj>ection under the conditions that existed some fourteen years ago, added to which was the vast increase in “throughput” which had developed. During the rationing period the Council had already foreseen this situation and by the appointment of an additional sanitary inspector, and employment of the shift system, it was possible to ensure that all meat slaughtered was properly inspected. During a year of serious difficulty, inspectorially, the office staff still had to cope with incoming mail which totalled 13,551 postal packets, while the outgoing post totalled 10,3317 items. By close co-operation between members of the office staff and inspec- tors, many difliculties which would otherwise have arisen were avoided. i,3'94 preliminary notices were sent out in connection with the complaints received; 398 letters, together with 548 statutory notices in respect of nuisances, 31 in connection with the provision of dustbins and 39 with reference to contraventions of the Factories Act. In view of the number of notices served it is a source of satisfaction to be able to report that in only twelve instances was it necessary to institute legal proceedings. An increasing number of complaints, often in the form of petitions, are received relating to noise. The subject is referred to in some detail elsewhere in this report, nevertheless the matter seems to be one of much urgency and there would appear to be need for a national policy to be formulated which would enable local authorities to take more positive action than is now possible. SANITARY . INSPECTION OF DISTRICT That portion of the work of the Health Department connected with nuisances in and around dwellings and with property improve- ments can best be set out in tabular form. The figures in relation to these matters for the year are as follows :—