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be dealt with under the Public Health Acts.
Clean Air Act, 1956
The major part of the Clean Air Act was brought : into operation
with effect from the 31st December, 1956. The more important provisions
required that new furnaces should be as far as practicable
smokeless, regulated the height of chimneys and enabled local
authorities to set up smoke control areas. Section 24 provided
that building byelaws may require the provision in new buildings
of such arrangements for heating and cooking to prevent as far as
practicable the emission of smoke. This byelaw was adopted by the
Twickenham Corporation in February, 1957.
The remainder of the Clean Air Act came into operation on the
1st June, 1958. These provisions prohibited, with certain exceptions,
the emission of dark smoke from chimneys; regulated the
discharge of grit and dust from furnaces and provided new powers
for dealing with smoke nuisances.
At the same time the Dark Smoke (Permitted Periods) Regulations,
1958, became operative and superseded the byelaws made under
Section 104 of the Public Health Act, 1936, which made it an
offence to emit black smoke for more than two minutes in any period
of 30 minutes. The effect of these regulations is that the local
authority can now control the emission of dark smoke, as well as
black smoke from chimneys.
In June, 1958, a sub-committee was appointed by the Corporation
to consider setting up a smoke control area in the Borough.
Complaints
During 1957 the number of complaints received by the department
was 819.
Shops
Section 38 of the Shops Act 1950 deals with provisions for the
health and comfort of the staff.
Shops must be properly ventilated, adequately warmed and
sufficiently lighted; they must have toilet and washing facilities;
if the staff take meals on the premises there must be suitable
arrangements. Occasionally it happens, as in the case of a small
lock-up shop, it is impossible to provide a separate toilet on the
premises. In these cases, the occupier may make an alternative
arrangement to use a nearby toilet, and a certificate of exemption
is granted from the requirement of the Act.
There are at present 20 exemption certificates in force.
Schools
Further improvements were carried out under the Pood Hygiene
Regulations, 1955, and the table on page 45 gives details of this
work. The general standard of the canteens remains good.
It was not necessary to close any schools on account of
infectious disease among the children.
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