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Clean Air Act, 1956
The above Act deals with the control of dark smoke, smoke from
furnaces, smoke control areas and special cases of smoke emission,
which include special processes to be dealt with under the Alkali Act,
colliery spoil-banks, railway engines, vessels and Crown premises.
It also makes provision for the establishment of a Clean Air
Council for England and Wales.
Certain sections of the Act came into operation on the 31st
December, 1956, including those relating to the height of chimneys
and to smoke control areas. The remaining provisions came into operation
on the 1st June, 1958, and included those relating to the prohibition
of dark smoke from chimneys, measures for dealing with grit
and dust from furnaces, abatement of smoke nuisances and the
application of the Act to railway engines, vessels and Crown premises.
With regard to the making of smoke control areas, any local
authority may make an Order, which must be confirmed by the
Minister declaring the whole or any part of its district as a smoke
control area. Subject to any stated exceptions and limitations, the
emission of chimney smoke in such an area, on any day, is an offence
unless the emission was caused only by the burning of an authorised
fuel.
If the owner or occupier of a private dwelling which is in, or
will be in, a smoke control area, has to incur expenditure for adapting
his heating arrangements, the local authority shall repay him seventenths
of the cost, four-tenths of which is recoverable from the
Ministry of Housing and Local Government.
In October the Council passed a resolution instructing its officers
to prepare a programme for making orders under the Clean Air Act,
1956, for submission to the Minister of Housing and Local Government
for confirmation, whereby, within the next 10 years the whole
of the Borough will be declared a smoke control area.
A certain amount of publicity has been given to this subject, and
during the year, lectures were given by members of the staff to
organisations in the district, on clean air, in general, and more
particularly, with regard to smoke control areas.
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