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Section 72: Removal of house refuse, cleansing of ashpits, and &c.

Public Health Act 1936 · 1936 c. 49View on legislation.gov.uk

This provision is omitted
It is retained for historical reference and may not reflect the law currently in force.

Part II: Sanitation and Buildings.

OMITTED FROM CURRENT TEXT.

The text below is the provision as originally enacted. It is historical and may not include amendments made before this status change. View the enacted source.

A local authority may, and if required by the Minister shall, undertake the performance of all or any of the following services, that is to say—

the removal of house refuse ;
the cleansing of earthclosets, privies, ashpits and cesspools or any of them,

in either case, as respects either the whole or any part of their district.

If a local authority who, as respects their district or any part thereof, have undertaken the removal of house refuse, or the cleansing of earthclosets, privies, ashpits or cesspools, receive notice from the occupier of any premises within the district or, as the case may be, within that part of the district, requiring them to remove any house refuse from those premises or, as the case may be, to cleanse any earthcloset, privy, ashpit or cesspool belonging to or used by the occupants of those premises, and, without, reasonable excuse, fail to comply with the notice within seven days, the occupier of the premises may recover summarily as a civil debt from the authority the sum of five shillings for every day during which the default continues after the expiration of the said period.

A local authority who as respects their district or any part thereof have undertaken the removal of house refuse may make byelaws for the area to which their undertaking may for the time being extend—

imposing on the occupiers of premises duties in connection with the removal in order to f acilitate the work which the authority have undertaken;
where a local authority themselves provide dustbins, requiring that those dustbins shall be used;
prohibiting the deposit of liquid matter in dustbins;
regulating the deposit of refuse in ashpits or dustbins; and
prohibiting any person from removing any matter which the authority have undertaken to remove, not being matter produced on his own premises which he intends to remove for sale, or for his own use, and which is kept in the meantime so as not to be a nuisance.

A local authority who as respects any part of their district have not undertaken the performance of the service in question may make byelaws requiring the occupiers of premises in that part of the district to remove at specified intervals their house refuse or, as the case may be, to cleanse at specified intervals their earthclosets, privies, ashpits and cesspools,

A local authority who have under this section resolved to undertake the performance of any service shall not, if their resolution was passed in compliance with a requirement of the Minister, rescind it without his consent.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.