View report page

191
streams covered by the Act was also prohibited except with the
express permission of the respective County Council. The County
Council's consent was also required in connection with the erection
of any buildings, etc., in or over the said streams.
By virtue of the London Government Act, 1963, the functions of
the Kent County Council under the Act became the responsibility
of the G.L.C. from 1st April, 1965.
East Greenwich Relief Sewer
To obviate danger of flooding and to take the drainage of the
new southern approach to Blackwall Tunnel, the G.L.C. decided
to construct a relief sewer from Pelton Road to Deptford pumping
station at a cost of £1,088,700.
Because of difficult subsoil conditions, the sewer needed to be
constructed "in tunnel" with, in some instances, chemical consolidation by injection of the ground ahead with compressed-air
working. By the end of the year the work was well advanced.
ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
It would seem that man has learned to add years but relatively
little quality to life and that pollution of all descriptions is a
concomitant of him and his advancement. As years add wisdom,
man at very great expense, seeks to redress the wrongs perpetrated
against nature by previous generations, of which air pollution is
a typical example.
Means are sought to reduce or eliminate the concentrations of
oxides of sulphur, nitrogen and carbon and to identify and evaluate
the photochemical reactions of partially burnt end-products from
automobile exhausts. Greater publicity is now being given to the
effects of such chemicals upon sensitive mucous membranes, their
likely effects upon water supplies and, indeed, upon all environment
generally.
Apart from the economic and medical advantages accruing from
the introduction of the Clean Air Act in 1956, there have been
many other indications that our atmosphere is improving in quality
among which is the growing realisation that the cleaning of buildings is now really worthwhile. Furthermore, the ornithologists and
botanists report the welcome return to our parks and open spaces
of many birds and plants which have been absent for half a
century or more.
However, legislation covering atmospheric pollution has not been
the prerogative of 20th century legislators entirely. Dangers of a
contaminated atmosphere were recognised and measures introduced