Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts consolidation and amendment

The Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act 1855 received royal assent. This Act consolidated and amended the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts 1848 and 1849.

In the House of Commons, Sir Benjamin Hall described that the existing Act had been 'wholly inoperative' during the recent cholera epidemic.

From August 1855, the new consolidated and amended Act required local authorities to employ sanitary inspectors and gave local authorities powers to enter properties containing 'nuisances'.

These were defined as any premises that were in such a state as to be injurious to health, including gutters, urinals and ditches 'so foul as to be a nuisance or injurious to health', as well as places where animals were kept.