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resulted in the presentation of a Bill which in turn became the Clean Air
Act of 1956. Although this received Royal Assent in July, none of it
was to come into operation until such date as the Minister was to appoint.
By the Clean Air Act, 1956 (Appointed Day) Order, 1956, most of the
provisions came into operation on the 31st December, 1956. Because of
the need to give industry sufficient notice of proposals which would
involve changing boilers, furnaces etc., to enable the new legal requirements
to be satisfied the provisions relating to industrial premises are not
to come into force until early in 1958.
The Bill " to make provision for abating the pollution of the air"
has four purposes:
(i) to prohibit the emission of dark smoke from chimneys, railway
engines and vessels, subject to certain qualifications;
(ii) to prohibit the installation of new industrial furnaces unless
they are capable, so far as practicable, of being operated
without emitting smoke;
(iii) to require that the emission of grit and dust from existing
industrial furnaces shall be minimised and that new industrial
furnaces burning pulverised fuel or large quantities
of other solid fuel shall be provided with grit-arresting
equipment;
(iv) to empower local authorities, by order, subject to confirmation
by the Minister concerned, to declare " smoke-control
areas," in which the emission of smoke from chimneys will
constitute an offence.
In a district such as this with its relatively small number of factories,
what pollution does occur is due more to the domestic than to the factory
chimney, although, of course, a single offending factory chimney might
be more noticeable. Much attention then will have to be paid to the
domestic chimney and consideration will have to be given to the establishing
of smoke control areas. These are parts of districts in which when
declared, it would be an offence to allow the emission of smoke from a
chimney of any building in it, although it would be a defence to prove
the emission of smoke was caused by the use of an authorised fuel. A
number of local authorities have already defined smokeless zones in their
areas. These are areas in which emission of smoke was prohibited.
The intention had been that these zones, small to start with, would be
enlarged, and in time that they would include areas in which there were
industrial installations which it would be impracticable to turn on to any
smokeless fuel. An entire absence of smoke then could not be obtained,
but it could be reduced to a " negligible smoke emission." Even this,
however, could hardly be accepted in a smokeless zone. It can, however,
be tolerated in smoke control areas. In such areas all domestic Premises
would have to use smokeless methods of burning authorised fuels. The
only way of eliminating domestic smoke is by ceasing to burn raw coa;
For all practical purposes the solution is a solid fuel, and in domestic
premises smokeless methods of burning authorised fuels must be used.
The Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) Regulations, 1956, declare
the following to be authorised fuels for the purposes of the Clean Air Act,