View report page

39
D(12) Proposed Controlled Tipping
Land at Harrow Manorway.
In November, the Ministry of Housing and Local
Government dismissed the appeal made by the Greenwich
Borough Council on behalf of certain Metropolitan Boroughs
against the refusal of planning permission for controlled
lipping of domestic refuse at the above site.
In view of the negotiations which were taking place for
the sale of the land to London County Council, the Minister
dismissed the appeal without prejudice to a renewed application
when the ultimate use of the land was decided upon.
D(13) The Public Health Laboratory Service
(Appointed Day) Order, 1961
This Order appointed 1st August 1961 as the appointed
day for the purposes of the Public Health Laboratory Service
Act, 1960 which provides for the constitution of a Board to
exercise functions with respect to the administration of the
bacteriological service provided by the Minister of Health
under Section 17 of the National Health Service Act, 1946.
D(14) Noise Abatement Act, 1960
Since the introduction of this Act, unnecessary or unreasonable
noise is declared as a statutory nuisance and the
power to effect the abatement of such nuisance has been
delegated to the Health Committee. During 1961, two complaints
were received regarding noise originating in factories,
and there is every reason to believe that the informal action
taken by the Public Health Inspectors satisfied the complainants.
It is very clear, however, that although considerable
research appears to have been made into noise generally, its
sources, and methods of control, much more research work
will be necessary before level standards can be defined and
accepted as criteria to cope with the many and varied situations
met with in an industrial town such as Erith.
Inspections reveal that the reaction of individuals—and
districts too—to noise is unpredictable and varies considerably
in that a level of noise tolerated in one locality may
S've rise to strong protests in another.
At the National Physical Laboratory Conference at Tedd'ngton
in June, it was authoritatively stated that, as yet, no
"istrument has been devised which can determine whether
a noise is likely to be unacceptable to the hearer, and that
many factors including the psychological are involved. It
would appear, therefore, that until some reasonably easy-toapply
Presumptive standard is forthcoming, the statutory
suppression of offending noise will continue to present many
difficulties.