Local Authority Role

The historic role of local authorities
Historically initiatives to tackle insanitary buildings lay with local authorities.
Government considered that responsibility to improve towns was the responsibility of town councils.
The cholera epidemic of 1832 meant that something had to be done about housing conditions by the Government.
The spread of the disease
Cholera baffled the medical profession - could not discover the cause of the disease or its spread.
High death rates from typhoid, typhus, smallpox, scarlatina and tuberculosis.
How can these diseases be controlled?
Speculative building
The expanding towns lacked housing at economical rents.
Thousands of houses erected in or on the boundaries of the towns.
This building encouraged by town councils who advertise for workers to feed the demands of the factories.
The Buildings
No control on where or what to build.
Small terraced houses were built at high density.
Many back to back houses were built with little sunlight or ventilation.
Sanitary accommodation provided in detached privies at either end of the terraces.
Little or no drainage provided.