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18
Clean Air Act 1956 Section 3 New furnaces
During the year 15 notifications were received in
accordance with Section 3 of the Act of the intention to
install new furnaces at various industrial and commercial
premises in the Borough. Every effort was made in these
cases to obtain full information as to the proposed plants,
and in some cases the Council's consultant was called
upon for his opinion. Section 3 provides that all new
furnaces installed should be capable, as far as practic
able, of being operated continuously without emitting
smoke when burning fuel of a type for which the furnace
was designed.
Clean Air Act 1956 Section 3 Prior approval
No applications for prior approval under the Section
were received or dealt with during the year.
Clean Air Act 1956 Section 10 Heights of chimneys
Under this section plans of new buildings, other than
residences, shops or offices, must be rejected unless the
local authority are satisfied that the proposed height of
the chimney will be sufficient to prevent, as far as
practicable, the smoke, grit or gases from becoming
prejudicial to health oranuisance. Such plans are passed
to me by the Borough Surveyor for comment on this par
ticular aspect and in three instances during the year
higher chimneys were agreed after consultation with the
architects concerned. It is to be regretted that this is
the only provision in the Clean Air Act for reducing the
harmful effects of gases from chimneys. As the Section
only applies where plans have to be submitted in accor
dance with building byelaws it follows that buildings
which are exempt from byelaw control are also exempt from
the provisions of this Section. The Section makes no
provision for requiring a higher chimney when a small
furnace with a low chimney is replaced by a different
type of furnace with much more heavily polluted flue
gases.
West Middlesex Clean Air Co-ordinating Committee
The three authorities fully represented on the Com
mittee (Ealing, Peltham and Hayes & Harlington), were
joined during 1960 by officer representatives from Heston
& Isleworth and Southall, thus covering a contiguous area
of over 28,000 acres with a total population of nearly
500 000.