Member obituaries

We would be honoured to commission obituaries for recently deceased members who have made significant contributions to environmental health. If you would like to recognise someone, please contact us at [email protected].

Obituaries should be no longer than 500 words and must include the individual’s full name, year of birth, and a focus on their work in environmental health, including any involvement with CIEH. Please also provide a high-quality photo, along with permission for its use.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept unsolicited obituaries, nor are we able to write them ourselves.

Written by Jon Buttolph, Executive Director of Professional Standards, CIEH

I was very sad to hear of the recent death of John Freear. John had been a fixture of CIEH throughout my time here and I will miss him greatly.

He qualified as an EHO in 1965 and had racked up 42 years of employment in local authorities until his retirement in 2002. The last 13 of these years had been spent as Head of Environmental Health Services at South Kesteven District Council – a large rural authority in South Lincolnshire.

John spent well over a decade as a member of CIEH's Council (now known as the Board of Trustees) and was elected as its Chair for 2009. He took a very keen interest in mucking in to help with our qualification processes. Most of my work with him was in connection with our committees in this area, or as Treasurer of the Environmental Health Board.

This commitment also fed into his work with colleagues remembering his focus on training and development of trainees and students, including achieving the Investors in People award for the organisation. He was also President of the East Midlands Region and did a considerable amount of work regionally with conference organisation (his late wife Barbara did the buffet food and was also well known!).

I will miss John's attention to detail and kind nature. He'd often find at least one figure in the EHRB accounts that didn't quite add up, but always let me know about it with a jovial smile on his face. The writing pad I use every day is spare from the East Midlands conference in 2007 which he handed to me without ceremony in the office shortly afterwards.

With thanks to Christian Polzin MCIEH, Environmental Health Team Leader – Commercial, South Kesteven District Council.

Written by Past President Dr Stephen Battersby MBE CEnvH FCIEH FRSPH

David died on 11 April having been unwell for a number of years. He had established a global reputation in housing and health and was a pioneer for many in the profession. Colleagues have also called him the conscience of the profession. He was someone who was inspirational to me and many others who worked with him.

He qualified as a Public Health Inspector in1966 and awarded a Fellowship in 2007.

Most of David's career was outside local government. My first encounter with him was as a founder of the Public Health Advisory Service (PHAS) at Shelter, and a board member of the Shelter National Housing Aid Trust (SNHAT). His dissatisfaction with the Association of Public Health Inspectors, and reluctance to campaign for better protection of those living in poor housing had led David with others to establish the Public Health Inspectors London Action Group (PHILAG). He continued to be a critical friend of the CIEH until his death. I suspect he thought that as a Vice-President I could achieve more.

David gave expert evidence in many leading cases on housing and health, in particular how s.99 of the Public Health Act 1936 (now s.82 Environmental Protection Act 1990) could be used against landlords of properties (including councils) that were prejudicial to health. It was when I was Assistant Secretary of the CIEH in the 1980s that I started to work closely with him. His expertise on dampness was used to prepare the "Background Notes on Condensation" published by the CIEH in the early 1980s. This reflected concern that housing officers and some EHOs, without proper investigation, blamed tenants for the occurrence of condensation and mould - some things never change! Despite his health he submitted critical responses to DLUHC on Awaab's law and the Decent Home Standard and the review of the HHSRS as well articles for Legal Action. We were due to update our book on Dampness in Dwellings this year.

He took work seriously, but we also had some fun working at Warwick University Law School on studies for the Government into controls on minimum standards in housing (starting after changes to the fitness standard in 1989). He led on development of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS); an Approved Code of Practice for Management Standards in Multi-Occupied Buildings; and production of Housing Disrepair Legal Obligations: Good Practice Guide. The CIEH collaborated with David on the Warwick (Un)Healthy Housing conferences in the late 1980s.

The CIEH awarded him ‘Researcher of the Year’ in 2015 for a paper on thermal discomfort and health and protection of susceptible people.

With the Building Research Establishment, and using the HHSRS, he developed a methodology to assess the cost to the NHS of inadequate housing. He also advised the BRE on production of a Guide and an Assessment Protocol on Overheating in Dwellings.

He worked with WHO from 2006 (to which he was seconded for a while) and colleagues in the USA, France and New Zealand including an appointment by the NZ government to the Assessment Panel for the National Science Challenge on Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities and recently worked on the impact of poor housing on people’s health in Wales.

His death leaves a huge void professionally and personally and a legacy that will be hard to follow. I am proud to have had him as a friend and work with him all these years.

Photo credit: University of Warwick