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PUBLIC MEETING
In October a Public Meeting was held in St. Martin's Church Hall
with a programme similar to the meetings held in previous years.
There were about 150 people present, the hall being filled almost to
capacity. The Chairman of the General Purposes Committee opened
the meeting and films dealing with the subject of clean air were shown.
A panel consisting of the Chairman of the General Purposes Committee,
members of the Coal, Electricity and Gas Boards, the Medical
Officer of Health and myself answered questions invited from the
audience. These followed a similar pattern to those put at previous
meetings and although they were still forthcoming, the meeting had
to be closed at 10 p.m. The Eastern Electricity and Eastern Gas
Boards both had exhibitions of suitable fires and heaters in the hall
and this exhibition attracted much attention.
The Council has continued to participate in the scheme for the
measurement of air pollution and the necessary equipment has been
in operation since early in 1962. The information derived from this
equipment is forwarded to a central laboratory and forms part of
the scheme for the estimation of air pollution in the Greater London
Area.
In connection with this scheme some very interesting measurements
were obtained during the period 3rd—7th December inclusive, the
week of the last 'smog'.
Smoke concentration: Av. per 5 days 1090 u/cu.m.
Lowest reading 24 hrs. 932 u/cu.m.
Highest reading 1368 u/cu.m.
S02 concentration: Av. per 5 days 1356 u/cu.m.
Lowest reading 24 hrs. 771 u/cu.m.
Highest reading 1654 u/cu.m.
In order that these figures may be assessed the following are the
figures for the four days immediately before and the four days
immediately following these dates.
Smoke concentration: Av. per 8 days 163 u/cu.m.
Lowest reading 24 hrs. 56 u/cu.m.
Highest reading 24 hrs. 252 u/cu.m.
S02 concentration: Av. per 8 days 206 u/cu.m.
Lowest reading 24 hrs. 107 u/cu.m.
Highest reading 24 hrs. 243 u/cu.m.
The amount of work due to the operation of the Clean Air Act
has again been considerable. This has been particularly noticeable in
the office due to the large increase in the number of enquiries both in
the public office and over the telephone. To cope with this increase
an additional clerk was appointed at the end of the year.
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