View report page

Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey
Smoke Control
Areas
When an area is surveyed for smoke control all houses and
premises are visited and a plan prepared. Each fireplace is inspected
and an estimate obtained to convert it, if necessary, to an approved
appliance, either solid fuel, gas, electricity or oil. When complete,
the Minister approves the plan and a date is fixed for the operation
of the Act. This involves an immense amount of work. Always the
Inspectors have another area coming along so that work continues
on two areas at the same time.
From an operative date the essential features are:—
(i) It is an offence to emit smoke from any chimney and the offender is
liable to prosecution;
(ii) Only approved smokeless fuel to be used;
(iii) Approved methods of lighting fires to avoid unnecessary smoke (e.g.
gas pokers).
Having dealt with the domestic dwellings, the problem of the
large, solid fuel boilers and oil-fired boilers as used in big establishments
and factories remain. The conversion over to oil does not
necessarily mean an improvement in the sulphur content. Solid fuel
D