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The year under review saw the confirmation of the above Orders
by the Minister of Housing and Local Government and the coming
into operation of the first four, so that a further three thousand seven
hundred buildings occupying six hundred and ninety acres became
subject to control.
It is thought that, as a result, some eighteen hundred tons of
raw coal will no longer be inefficiently burnt in open domestic fireplaces
each year, and that some forty-five tons less smoke will be
emitted at the comparatively low levels of house chimneys.
In meeting claims for grant which were received for works of
improvement to the heating arrangements at 964 houses in the areas,
the net cost to the Council was £2,612 (including £915 spent on
336 Council-owned properties).
Wembley No. 1 (Barn Hill) Smoke Control Order, 1960.
The area covered by this Order has been under surveillance for
fifteen months and no contraventions calling for formal action have
been observed and the few emissions which have been investigated
have proved to be the unavoidable slight smoke which arises when an
authorised solid fuel is first ignited.
There are known to be forty-seven oil-fired central heating boilers
in houses in the area, and it is regrettable to have to record that in
two instances complaints have been received of oily odours emanating
from the boiler flues. The cause of these emissions is not yet understood
but it is hoped that further investigation will enable the
difficulty to be remedied.
Future Smoke Control Areas.
Wembley No. 7 (Northwick Park) Smoke Control Order.
Wembley No. 8 (Chalkhill) Smoke Control Order.
The above two Orders were submitted to the Minister of Housing
and Local Government in 1962 but confirmation had not been
received by the end of the year.
When Orders 6, 7 and 8 come into operation in 1963, there will
remain some four thousand three hundred and fifty acres containing
thirty-two thousand dwellings still to be covered, and the Council
has decided that the future rate of progress should be such as to
ensure that the whole of the Borough will be subject to Smoke Control
Orders by 1973.
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