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CLEAN AIR ACT, 1956.
Progress in Clean Air continued. During the year No.15 Order was submitted
to the Minister for confirmation. This Order is the largest yet made
and covers an area of some 501 acres in the south of the borough. It involved
3,600 residential properties in which the estimated total cost of adaptations
is £63,000. The Minister fixed the date of operation as the 1st July, 1964.
Smoke Control Orders.
The first few Orders made by the Council consisted in large part of
cleared sites and sites on which remained a few houses scheduled for almost
immediate redevelopment which were excluded from the operation of these Orders.
This was done so that Orders should be in operation before the tenants moved
in, as it was felt that they should become accustomed to the use of smokeless
appliances from the start. With these Orders completed attention was then
turned to the making of Smoke Control Orders covering the rest of the borough.
With the Completion of No.15 approximately two thirds of the borough is
subject to Smoke Control and it is anticipated that if the present rate of
progress is maintained the remaining one third of the borough should be
covered in two further Orders at the time of the amalgamation of the three
boroughs on April 1st, 1965.
Smoke Abatement.
During the year twenty five smoke nuisances were reported and thirty
three were detected as a result of routine observations. A total of 198
visits and inspections were made in this connection.
During the winter complaints continued regarding emission of grit and
sooty particles from Power Stations. Representations were made on a number
of occasions to the Central Electricity Generating Board and to Her Majesty's
Alkali Inspector (responsible for the operation of the Clean Air Act in
Power Stations).
Brunswick Wharf Power Station, pulverised fuel fired, had trouble with
an overload cut-out on the electrostatic precipitator. This caused periodic
heavy emissions of dust. A number of sampling points were set up in the
vicinity, and the resulting collection of grit, ash and sooty particles was
submitted for analysis. The result of this investigation was passed to the
Central Electricity Generating Board. Some improvement has been effected
since the installation of new electronic equipment.
At Watts Grove Power Station the principal factor giving rise to
nuisance was the burning of solid fuel in furnaces primarily designed for
pulverised fuel, with the result that combustion takes place in the lower
portion of a comparatively large combustion space. This gives rise to
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