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It is a far cry from the London 'pea-soup' smog of 1952 which was said to have been
directly responsible for the deaths of 4,000 people, mostly elderly bronchitics. The national
press contained a vivid account, with photographs, of farmers at the Smithfield Dairy Show,
which coincided with the smog period, trying to save their prize cattle from suffocation by
shrouding their snouts with towels soaked in brandy. A large number of animals were in fact
asphyxiated as a result of the smoke - you might say it was more in the nature of a sacrifice
at the shrine of Bacchus. Whatever the merits of this press article, it did demonstrate, in a
very dramatic way, the "killer" effect of the smog.
The adverse effects of air pollution on the environment of an urban community was
recognised as long ago as the thirteenth century, when smoke abatement legislation was first
introduced. It needed the tragic consequences of the 1952 smog to bring about the 1956 Clean
Air Act which, inter alia, empowered local authorities to establish smoke control areas. As a
direct result of this Act the amount of smoke in London's air has been reduced by at least
three-quarters; its effectiveness has been proved by a considerable reduction in the density
and frequency of fog and a 70% increase in winter sunshine. As pollution has diminished,
there have been other less tangible but beneficial changes, not so well documented, such as
the increase of plant life and bird species in London. Not all local authorities have been as
energetic in declaring smoke control zones as London. Why should measures of proven effectiveness
not be made compulsory?
The year 1963 marked an important place in the history of environmental health
legislation as being the year when the framework of welfare legislation, first introduced for
factory workers in the year 1833, was extended into new fields of non-industrial employment
by the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act. This Act proved to be a most impressive
piece of legislation, and six years experience of administering its provisions has vindicated
its declared objective of improving standards of welfare and safety of employees in office and
shop premises.
By 1969 the environment and its preservation became something of a cause celebre.
Ecological science is being talked about in the right places, and by the right people. On an
international scale European Conservation Year was launched and during 1970 the nations of
Europe will try to thrash out a common policy on the improvement and conservation of the
environment. The United Nations has also decided to convene a world-wide conference on this
subject in 1972. In the United Kingdom the government has reacted by appointing a Minister of
State with special responsibilities for the environment; it has also set up a Royal Commission
on environmental pollution — the dangerof all this froth and activity is that conservation may
be lost in the welter of conversation.
It was the legislation of 1888 and 1894 which carved out of the chaos of nineteenthcentury
ad hoc municipal administration, the system of autonomous county boroughs and
administrative counties with their second tier of non-county boroughs, urban and rural districts.
The first indication of any fundamental thought about the future pattern of local government
came in 1945 with the setting up of the Local Government Boundary Commission. Though it
had no brief to look at functions, its 1947 report, in fact, made quite far-reaching proposals
for the status and functions of local authorities. The most significant change came in 1965 as
aresultof the London Government Act of 1963 which put into effect the recommendations of the
Royal Commission, which had been set up in 1957, to look at the structure in Greater London;
101 authorities were replaced by a Greater London Council covering the whole of the built-up
area and a second tier of 32 London Boroughs, plus the City of London. Amalgamation is now
past history, but subsequent events have proved that it was only the beginning of aprocess of
upheaval which is still with us — it could, more aptly, be described as "the lesson of London".
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