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(g) Pollution from Road Vehicles.
Although the Council have no statutory powers to deal with
the emission of smoke or fumes from road vehicles any cases which
are observed are drawn to the attention of the owners of the
vehicles and in most cases a co-operative attitude is met with.
If local authorities were given power to deal with this
aspect of clean air an improvement would soon be effected,
(h) Pollution from Railway.
The main line of the Western Region of British Railways
runs through the industrial part of the district.
During the year a letter was received from British Railways
stating that dieselisation of local services would be completed
by the end of the year and of main line services before the end
of 10 years.
(i) Measurement of Atmospheric Pollution.
Three stations for the measurement of atmospheric pollution
by the daily volumetric method are in use. The pollutants
measured are smoke and sulphur dioxide.
An electric reflectometer is used for assessing smoke stains
and the figures obtained are therefore far more accurate than
if obtained from visual comparison with a shade card.
The measuring station at William Byrd School is situated
in fairly close proximity to the Bath Road and London Airport
but is a considerable distance away from any source of smoke
particularly in a southerly and south westerly direction; the
station at Coldharbour Lane is in the centre of the town where
it is likely to receive the full effect of industrial pollution
and the station at Grange Park School is in the middle of a
modern residential area.
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