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42
As investigations proceeded it became evident they could not be attributed to any
one source
Whilst it was appreciated that the matter was not one regarding which the Council
could take statutory action, nevertheless every possible endeavour was made to help
In effect problems like this are almost bound to arise where heavy industry and
dwelling houses are side by side and this points to one of the reasons why town
planning is so important.
280 visits were made to local residents in connection with this problem tay the
Public Health Inspectors.
CLEAN AIR ACT 1956
I would like briefly to refer to the background of this Act which is recognised as
one of the greatest public health measures passed for many years.
The spark which ignited the gunpowder of public opinion was undoubtedly the
disastrous fog of December 1952, which caused the deaths of over 4,000 people in the
Greater London area alone The Government set up a Committee in July 1953 under the
Chairmanship of Sir Hugh Beaver with the following terms of reference -
"to examine the nature, causes and effects of air pollution and the efficacy of
present preventive measures to consider what further preventive measures are
practicable and to make recommendations,"
This Committee published its report on 10th November, 1954, and this report formed
the basis of the Clean Air Act An Act which all the political parties supported thus
enabling it to have a speedy passage through Parliament, receiving the Royal Assent in
July of 1956
The Act has four main purposes which are as follows
(i) to prohibit the emission of dark smoke from chimneys, railway engines and
vessels, subject to certain qualifications.
(ii) to prohibit the installation of new industrial furnaces unless they are
capable, so far as practicable, of being operated without emitting smoke.
(iii) to require that the emission of grit and dust from existing industrial fur
naces shall be minimised and that now industrial furnaces burning pulverised
fuel or large quantities of other solid fuel shall be provided with grit
arresting equipment.
(iv) to empower local authorities by order, subject to confirmation by the
Minister concerned, to declare "smoke control areas", in which the emission
of smoke from chimneys will constitute an offence
In other words everyone and everything contributing in the slightest degree to the
problem must be control led*
The following provisions of the Act which are the responsibility of the Council to
enforce, came into effect on the 31st December, 1956, and were
(1) Installation of new furnaces.
(2) Research and Publicity.
(3) Smoke Control Areas.
Of these the provision of Smoke Control Areas is undoubtedly the most important
and a report on this matter was submitted to the Public Health Committee in March.
Following this the Council decided., in principle, to make the whole of Fulham a Snoke
Control Area and to achieve this the Borough has been provisionally divided into ten
areas The plan is to deal with one area a year, although this may be altered
according to circumstances. The first area was selected for the following reasons •