Last year saw the 175^th anniversary of the Public Health Act, which introduced a framework for local areas to improve sanitary conditions, food safety and housing.

The Act recognised that improving people’s environment would improve their health – an approach recommended in Chadwick’s report into sanitation levels amongst the poor. Chadwick argued that the cost of improving living conditions would far outweigh the cost of ‘poor relief’ given to families of workers who died from infectious diseases, particularly evident during the cholera outbreaks of the time.