[Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Counties of Perth & Kinross.

  • Perthshire (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1969
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Counties of Perth & Kinross. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    57/86 (page 29)
    obvious that the Byelaws were out of date and compliance with then provided a standard which, although acceptable in 1936, was no longer acceptable. This was particularly evident where unsightly and unhygienic pail closets were still in use at some fruit picking encampments. These pail closets complied with the Byelaws but were a source of smell and nuisance to the fruit pickers who had to use them and to the staff who had to empty them. Over the past decade the standard of accommodation provided at most encampments used by fruit pickers and potato workers has advanced beyond the requirements of the Byelaws. This has been due mainly to the co-operation which the District Sanitary Inspectors have received from the owners of these establishments. As it was obvious, however, that further necessary improvements would not be achieved in all cases by persuasion, consideration was given to amending our Byelaws to require a higher standard of accommodation for seasonal workers. By the end of the year, new Byelaws had been approved by the County Council and these are to be brought into operation on 1st January, 1971. The new Byelaws will require at seasonal workers' encampments, electric lighting, hot water, showers or baths, water closets and clothes washing facilities. In some cases these facilities are already available but in other cases the higher standards will be welcomed by the seasonal workers and provide accommodation more in keeping with modern living standards. BUILDING (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1959 A total of 848 applications for Building Warrants, of which 460 were for Major Warrants and 388 were for Minor Warrants, were received during the year. Compared with applications in 1968 this represents an overall increase of approximately 5%. The total value of the work given in the Warrant applications was £2,984,990 which represents and increase of approximately 14.5% over 1968. Table I on page 30 gives details of Warrant applications and the value of the works. The legal time limitations placed on dealing with Warrant applications required precedence to be given to this work and a considerable proportion of staff time is taken up in the administration of the Building Act and Regulations. The statistical increase in Warrant applications is only part of the picture, however, and unseen is the tremendous amount of time spent on dealing with personal enquiries and requests for advice and assistance both at the offices and on the sites. While there is little doubt that a large section of the community consider the Building Regulations as an unnecessary evil and a further restriction on their freedom, the Building Regulations do perform a very useful “consumer protection” service in the standard of building and provide a good service to the public. Section 10 Notices During the year 26 Notices under Section 10 of the Building (Scotland) Act were served. In 21 cases the Notices related to work carried out without a Warrant having been obtained and in 5 cases they concerned work done in contravention of the conditions of the Warrant issued. Reports were sent to the Procurator Fiscal in connection with three of these cases and in two cases the persons involved were fined £20 and in the third case the person involved was fined £25. It was also necessary to follow up two of the Notices with Orders by the Building Authority to secure completion of work to the Building Regulations requirements and in neither case was the matter resolved before the end of the year. Section 13 Notices Three Notices were served under this section of the Act, which relates to Dangerous Buildings, and in two cases the County Council had to carry out the work necessary to remove the dangerous conditions.