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This section only applies where a chimney is shown on the plans submitted for bye-law approval
—one method of evasion is to omit any reference to a chimney on the plans and then, on completion
of the building, install a low self-supporting chimney outside the control of the byelaws.
The section does not apply to offices and shops, of which many install furnaces of a size at least
equivalent to those used in small factories but the Building Regulations which come into operation
early in 1966, do, to a limited extent, control the height of a chimney to be provided to these
premises. The section also does not give the Local Authority power to require a higher chimney if
a furnace is replaced with a larger one nor, if the method of firing is changed from a low sulphur
fuel to a fuel of higher sulphur content.
Better control of the emission of sulphur oxides into the atmosphere could be obtained if the
provisions of Section 3, relating to the notification of new furnaces, were extended to require the
notification of a change of fuel or grade of fuel and if the requirements of Section 10, relating to the
height of a chimney, were applicable to any chimney receiving the discharge from a furnace notified
under Section 3.
Plans submitted for byelaw approval are passed to the Department by the Borough Engineer
and Surveyor for a decision on this particular point. Eight plans were examined for this purpose. In
six instances the chimney height had previously been agreed after consultation with the Architect or
Heating Engineer and in the other two it was necessary to ask for taller chimneys than those shown
on the plans.
Recommended chimney heights have been agreed for the various proposed types of factories on
the municipal industrial estate at Hayes.
Industrial Bonfires
Section 47 of the Middlesex County Council Act 1961, prohibits dark smoke from industrial
bonfires and is a valuable aid to the clean air campaign. A common cause of complaint is smoke
from car breaker's yards. In one instance plans to construct a smokeless incinerator to take a
complete car body have been submitted; this, coupled with a large press to crush the burnt-out car
body should prevent any further nuisance from the premises concerned.