The Public Health Act 1875 consolidated earlier sanitary legislation and required local authorities across England and Wales to appoint officers and provide for drainage, water supply, street width and the regulation of new buildings. Under its model by-laws, councils set minimum standards for street widths, room sizes, ventilation, drainage and rear yards, producing the disciplined terraces of 'by-law housing' built across industrial towns. The standards greatly improved sanitation and density but were criticised for their monotonous gridiron streets. The Act made the regulated, serviced street the basic unit of British urban growth.
Its model by-laws standardised the layout and construction of working-class housing across Britain, embedding minimum public-health standards into the everyday fabric of the industrial city.
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