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furnaces burning pulverised fuel, or burning 1 ton an hour or more
of solid fuel in any other form, must have grit arresting plant installed
in accordance with the plans and specifications submitted
to and approved by the Local Authority. The applicant may
appeal to the Minister against a refusal to approve plans.
Departmental duties. Receiving and examination of plans,
consulting with technicians constructing the furnace, and ensuring
that construction is carried out in accordance with approved plans.
Section 8. (Information about furnaces and fuel consumed).
The Local Authority may, by notice in writing, require the occupier
of any building or land to furnish to them, within 14 days or such
longer time as may be specified in the notice, information as to the
furnaces or ovens in the building or on the land, and the fuel or
waste burned in those furnaces or subjected to any process in those
ovens as they may reasonably require for that purpose.
Section 11. (Smoke Control areas). Any Local Authority
may make an order, subject to confirmation by the Minister, declaring
the whole or any part of its district a " smoke control area."
Subject to any stated exceptions and limitations the emission of
smoke in such an area on any day is an offence unless the emission
was caused by the burning of an authorised fuel. The terms and
conditions of the order may be subject to considerable variations ;
the provisions may differ for different parts of the area ; and the
order may limit the specified classes of buildings or may exempt
specified buildings or classes of buildings. Certain types of fireplaces
and classes of fireplaces may also be exempted.
A smoke controlled area may, therefore, be a smokeless zone
in the generally accepted sense of that term, or may be an area in
which certain defined emissions of smoke are permitted.
The Minister may also make orders exempting any class of
fireplace if he has specified that such fireplaces can be used for burning
fuel other than an authorised fuel " without producing smoke
or any substantial quantity of smoke." The Minister also has the
power to suspend or relax the operation of a smoke control area
order, although he must, except in cases of emergency, consult with
the Local Authority.
Departmental duties. If the principle was approved by the
Council, careful preliminary planning of the area would be vital. The
area would have to be surveyed and its boundaries defined, with the
possibility of subsequent extensions. A detailed house-to-house
inspection of the proposed area would be necessary to ascertain :—