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from the operation of the order. Similarly it will be an offence to
deliver unauthorised solid fuel to a building in a smoke control
area unless the transaction relates to an exempted house or fireplace.
The provisions will not have any adverse effect upon merchants
selling coal on their premises in the ordinary way, or on
shopkeepers selling over the counter, whether or not their premises
are in a smoke control area. The provisions do not affect wholesale
deliveries to a merchant of unauthorised fuel, even though his
premises may be within a smoke control area.
Miscellaneous Provisions
The new Act contains a number of minor procedural amendments
to the 1956 Act. These include provisions to enable various
orders to be brought into operation immediately on confirmation;
to prevent the coming into operation of a smoke control order
being postponed for more than twelve months without the consent
of the Minister; and to ensure that any orders whose coming into
operation has been postponed to a date later than 1st April, 1970,
shall come into operation on the 1st April, 1970 (except where the
Minister otherwise directs).
Provision is also made for an alteration to the present arrangement
under which the Minister must order a local inquiry into
any objection to a proposed smoke control order. In appropriate
cases the objector may now be afforded an opportunity of an
informal hearing before a person appointed by the Minister.
The new Act also slightly alters the relationship between the
Clean Air Acts and the Alkali, etc., Works Regulation Act, 1906,
as well as the powers of local authorities in respect of works
scheduled under the Alkali Act. The 1956 Act provided that the
sections of that Act dealing with smoke control should not
apply to works scheduled under the Alkali Act but it made
certain exceptions which allowed local authorities some responsibility
for dark smoke, grit and dust emissions and smoke nuisances
arising on Alkali Act premises. Under the new Act these exceptions
disappear and it will accordingly no longer be open to local authorities
to ask the Minister for consent to their taking proceedings in
respect of air pollution against works scheduled under the Alkali
Act.
The remaining provisions of the Act will be brought into operation
in due course. Briefly, these concern an extension of the power
to prohibit dark smoke from industrial or trade premises; provisions
to enable local authorities to require the fitting of plant
to new furnaces to arrest grit and dust; and powers to enable the