London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

Hayes and Harlington 1961

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hayes]

This page requires JavaScript

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.
(h) Pollution from Railway.
The main line of the Western Region of British Railways
runs through the industrial part of the district.
Substantial progress has been made in the replacement of
steam locomotives by diesels.
(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.
When these measuring stations were first set up it was
anticipated that the level of pollution at the William Byrd
School would be much less than at the other two stations, both
in built up areas. This however has not proved to be the case.
In an attempt to find a satisfactory explanation for these circumstances
the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
have been consulted. At their suggestion additional temporary
measuring stations were set up at points intended to reflect the
relative influence of the airport and Bath Road traffic. I Hve
not yet had a report from the Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research on their interpretation of the results but
I understand that they incline to the view that Bath Road traffic
is a much more important factor than had been realised, perhaps
even more important than the airport,
The average monthly figures for both smoke and sulphur
dioxide show an improvement at every station compared with the
previous year thus continuing the trend which was reported last
year.
29