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ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
Two stations, one at Brentford and another on the second floor of a building
adjacent to the Town Hall, continued in operation during the year for the estimation,
by the volumetric method, of the amount of smoke and sulphur dioxide
present in the atmosphere.
The measurement of grit deposits from the atmosphere was achieved by the
use of two deposit gauges, one at the Metropolitan Water Board Works, Kew Bridge
and the other in Chiswick House Grounds.
Reports on the information obtained from these sources were submitted
monthly to the Fuel Research Station of the Department of Scientific and Industrial
Research, where they were collated with those from the rest of the country.
Tables XI and XII at the end of the book set out a brief summary of the year s
recordings and Graphs "C" and "E" have been prepared from these figures.
Graph "D" compares the concentration of smoke in Brentford and Chiswick
with that of Leeds, Central London and Lerwick, places chosen as representative
of areas from industrial (Leeds) to virtually smokeless (Lerwick).
117 visits or observations were made during the year to deal with premises
which were suspected of or were alleged to be causing atmospheric pollution.
It was generally found that a discussion on stoking methods or the suitability
of fuels used helped to solve any smoke problems encountered In one instance,,
however, hand firing was replaced by mechanical stoking with very satisfactory
results. The National Coal Board is only too anxious to help in these cases
and their assistance and advice have been much appreciated.
There has been little to choose between the amount of pollution recorded
by the volumetric method in Brentford and Chiswick respectively, and the pattern,
as shown by Graph "C", varies little from that for 1959 Once again the deposit
gauge figures are very variable but, on the whole the Brentford findings were
worse than those for Chiswick. It is interesting to note however, that the
rainfall figures for Brentford were invariably less than those for Chiswick.
It is still rather early to assess the effect of the operation of the
Borough's first Smoke Control Area which came into operation on 1st May 1960,
but, as time progresses and additional areas are established in this and in
neighbouring districts, improvement should be evident in future statistics.
Clean Air Act, 1956
During the year under review the area of the Borough bounded on the northeast
side by the Southern Region Railway Line,, on the south-east the south and
the south-west by the River Thames and on the west by the Southern Region Railway
(Richmond) Line, was surveyed in detail and a preliminary scheme to make
this area subject to a Smoke Control Order under Section 11 of the Clean Air
Act, 1956 was submitted to the Minister of Housing and Local Government for
approval. His consent was obtained and in October, the local authority made
an Order known as the "Brentford and Chiswick (No.2) Smoke Control Order, 1960,w
This Order was submitted to the Minister for confirmation the suggested date
being the 1st August, 1961, This date was subsequently amended by the Minister
to the 1st October, 1961, when he confirmed it.
The area comprises 288 acres and contains 1,125 dwellings, of which 124 are
Council owned. There are also 5 industrial, 16 commercial and 11 miscellaneous
buildings.
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