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During the year the Council reconsidered the phasing of their
Smoke Control programme—which had originally anticipated the
inclusion in Smoke Control Areas of approximately 8,000 dwellings
per year—and agreed on the remainder of the district being
split into seven proposed areas, each averaging in the region
of 5,750houses,commencingwith No.4 Area in 1968 and concluding
with the proposed No.10 Area in 1974.
Frequent requests are received from occupiers of dwellings
not in Smoke Control Areas asking if grant can be available for
replacing non-approved appliances in regular use. It must be
stressed, however, that at present grant is only available when
a dwelling is in a Smoke Control Area and to qualify for grant
the work should be carried out after the date of confirmation
of the Order and before the date the Order comes into operation.
REDUCTION IN POLLUTION
The thirty-second report of the Warren Spring Laboratory,
"The Investigation of Atmospheric Pollution 1958—1966" shows
that between 1955 and 1962 the amount of smoke in London's
air fell by two-thirds, and more slowly since, and in the rest
of Britain by about a quarter in the seven years from 1958—59
to 1964—65. In Britain as a whole, smoke emission is estimated
to have fallen from 2.3 million tons in 1952 to 1.15 million tons
in 1965, a steeper fall than in coal consumption which was
203 million tons and 181 million tons respectively in these two
years. Sulphur dioxide emission rose from 5.02 million tons in
1952 to 6.32 million tons in 1965; but pollution from this source
declined by about one-fifth—"a tribute to wise replanning in so
far as chimney heights and the location of industry are concerned."
The report points out that year-to-year changes in measured
pollution are affected by the weather, but that trends over a period
of years, observed at enough sites, can be considered meaningful.
INVESTIGATION OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
The London Borough of Havering is one of the participating
authorities in the National Survey of air pollution and is also a
member of the co-operating bodies for the investigation of atmospheric
pollution.
Seven smoke filters and seven sulphur dioxide volumetric
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