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CLEAN AIR ACT. 1956
THE CHELSEA (CHURCH WARDl SMOKE CONTROL ORDER. 1959.
The Council, at its meeting on the 28th January, 1959, agreed
in principle to make Church Ward a Smoke Control Area, as a first
step towards the development of Chelsea as a Clean Air Zone, and the
Town Clerk was authorised to supply the Minister of Housing and
Local Government with all necessary particulars of the Council's
proposals, in order to obtain his consent to a detailed survey of
the Ward being under taken.
Church Ward is bounded on the north by the centre of Fulham
Road, on the east by the centres of Draycott Avenue, Whitehead's
Grove and Markham Street, on the south by the centre of King's Road,
and on the west by the centre of Old Church Street; it is almost 93
acres in extent and contains 3,948 domestic dwellings with approximately
9,300 inhabitants. Although this Ward is the second smallest in the
Borough in area, it is sufficiently large to have some practical effect
on atmospheric pollution as it is the most densely populated, and is the
Ward with the largest number of small residential units. It also
includes 196 commercial premises, 14. industrial premises, institutions,
churches, schools and, most importantly, four hospitals - St. Luke's,
Chelsea Hospital for Women, the Royal Marsden and the Brompton
Hospital. (A map of the Ward appears on Page 58 ).
Upon receipt of the Minister's approval in principle to the
carrying out of a detailed house-to-house survey and his provisional
approval to the Council's proposals, it was possible to commence
this survey on 6th April. Despite the fact that the Public Health
Department was one short of its establishment of Public Health
Inspectors, in the interests of economy and in view of the Minister's
decision to waive the need for a preliminary survey it was decided to
attempt the survey with the existing staff, the detailed survey to be
undertaken by the Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector and one other
Inspector who had been engaged on housing repair and renovation work
in West Chelsea. The consequential substantial increase in the volume
of clerical work in the Department by reason of recording, correspondence
and the checking of approved accounts was also undertaken by the
existing staff.
Progress was steadily maintained throughout the summer months
and by the end of September the major part of the survey had been
carried out. It had been possible to accelerate the progress of the
survey by utilising the part-time services of a District Public
Health Inspector. During October and early November, the Inspectors
dealt with outstanding queries and re-visited those premises where
previous access had not been possible due mainly to owners and
occupiers being away on holiday or absent for business reasons.
The general reaction of the residents of Church Ward to the
Council's proposal to make a Smoke Control Order was most
encouraging, and practically all were readily in agreement that it
was a worth while effort if it resulted finally in achieving a smoke