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20
Rear of Nos. 10/13, Market Place, and
Adjoining No. 38, Chestnut Road,
When applications for licences are received there is complete
co-operation with the Town Planning Authority from whom
separate permission must be obtained before the sites may be used.
10. ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION AND SMOKE ABATEMENT.
There is a tendency in some quarters to discountenance the
real importance of this subject. Why this course is taken it
is difficult to say, more especially in view of the considered
opinion of medical authorities as, for example, Dr.Peter
Kerley, C.V.O.,C.B.E.
In an address to a London audience he made it perfectly
clear that in his opinion there is a direct relationship
between atmospheric pollution and disease of the lung. There
is ample evidence of the higher incidence of certain diseases
in industrial areas compared with rural areas. Apart however,
from that aspect of the subject, surely no well-informed
person can justifiably decry this work, which aims at a
cleaner, more comfortable, environment, It may be said that
Greater London would soon become far less desirable as a
residential area if all the efforts now being made to reduce
atmospheric pollution were to cease. Smoke knows no
atmospheric boundary. That which is produced in the
industrial part of the East End may obliterate the sunshine in
the skies of this less industrialised area if the wind is in
the right quarter. Indeed this is known to occur from time
to time and what a dismal picture is then presented.
The Corporation of Kingston-upon-Thames is to be congratulated
for the support it has given to the work of smoke
abatement in the past years and for the interest which continues
to be shown.
In submitting this Report it should be noted that
reference is made, for comparison purposes, to data covering
periods other than the year 1 951.
During 1951 no marked improvement was noted in the
quality of the available coal either for industrial or for
domestic use. It varied considerably from time to time but
seldom rose above what could be described as a desirable
average quality.
In connection with industrial undertakings, the continued
shortage of steel, and the rising costs, to say nothing
about transport delays, did not tend to expedite the work of
replacing steam raising plant or the supply and replacement
of grit arrester equipment.
But smoke abatement does not depend entirely on such
matters. Attention has been directed frequently to the
question of proper stoking. Unskilled stoking is an expensive
way to raise steam. Not only may the consumption of fuel be
raised by as much as 15% above what is necessary for the purpose,
but the amount of grit and smoke will almost certainly be
proportionately higher. Hence a well trained efficient
stoker is an essential member of the staff.