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AIR POLLUTION
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL CONTROL
The following are the number of notifications and applications received during the year in respect of
new furnace installations and chimneys:-
Clean Air Act 1956 -Section 3 (1)
Notifications of installation of furnaces (over 55,000 BTU's) 14
Clean Air Act 1956 - Section 3 (3)
Applications for prior approval of installation of furnaces (all approved) 10
Clean Air Act 1968 - Section 6
Applications for approval of chimney heights (alI approved) 10
CONTRAVENTIONS OF SMOKE CONTROL ORDERS
A complaint of a nuisance from smoke being caused by the burning of unauthorised fuel (wood
off-cuts) on a heating stove was received and investigated. In spite of several warnings to the firm concerned
the nuisance continued. Towards the end of the year, therefore, the case was reported to the Council's
Chief Solicitor for the institution of legal proceedings in accordance with Section 11 of the Clean Air Act
1956.
In my last report I referred to nuisances arising from the burning of waste on the incinerator of a
hospital in the Borough. During 1972, arrangements were made for the waste to be disposed of elsewhere
whilst modifications were carried out to the incinerator. In spite of the alterations, when the apparatus was
brought back into service complaints of smoke were again received and substantiated, as a result of which,
it subsequently became necessary to report the matter to the Department of Health and Social Security in
accordance with Section 22 of the Clean Air Act 1956.
MEASUREMENT OF AIR POLLUTION
The Department continued to monitor the levels of smoke and sulphur dioxide in the borough for
the purposes of the National Survey being conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry through
Warren Springs Laboratory. The three testing sites are situated at the Health Department, Upper Street, N.1.;
Finsbury Health Centre, Pine Street, E.C.1.; and the Training Centre, Isledon Road, N.7. A fourth site is
maintained by the Medical School of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in Charterhouse Square, E.C.1. The
testing apparatus formerly maintained by the Greater London Council at 'Hillside', St. John's Way, N.19 has
ceased to function following the closure of the premises.
The accompanying graphs illustrate the average monthly figures obtained from the three sites in the
Borough. Unfortunately, the disruption of the electrical power supplies affected the running of two of the
automatically operated measuring instruments in February and to a lesser degree in March. The figures for
February are those recorded only in respect of Upper Street, the station normally showing the highest levels
of pollution. The results for March are also shown to be above average due to the Pine Street and Isledon
Road stations being out of action for part of the period. It is encouraging to note that, in general, the levels
of pollution from smoke and sulphur dioxide are lower than those recorded for 1971.
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