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51
THE CLEAN AIR ACT, 19 56
This Act received the Royal Assent on the 5th July, 1956, and the
various sections come into operation on days to be appointed by the
Minister of Housing and Local Government. The provisions of the Act
likely to affect local authorities in London are as follows:
"Local authority" so far as London is concerned is defined in Part
II of the Third Schedule to the Act as the sanitary authority and not
the county council, provided that -
(a) both the county council and the sanitary authorities shall be
local authorities for the purposes of section twenty-five of
this Act (Powers of local authorities as to research and
publ icity);
(b) if, in any special case, a sanitary authority so requests, the
county council may enforce any of the provisions of this Act
in lieu of the sanitary authority;
(c) the duty of enforcing the provisions of this Act in relation
to any such premises, not being premises within the Port of
London, as are occupied by a sanitary authority shall be
performed by the county council;
and, for the purposes of performing their duties under this proviso, the
county council may act as if they were the local authority and the
county were their district.
SECTION 1 (Prohibition of dark smoke from chimneys) makes the emission
of dark smoke from a chimney, including domestic chimneys, an offence.
The emission itself is an offence, and the question of a nuisance being
caused and having to be proved does not arise.
Defences, (a) Lighting up from a cold furnace
(b) Some unforeseeable and unavoidable failure of the furnace
or equipment:
(c) The use of unsuitable fuel, suitable fuel being
unobtainable.
Where a defendant seeks to avail himself of the defences (a) and
(c) it is also necessary for him to show that "all practicable steps had
been taken to prevent or minimise the emission of dark smoke".
The provisions of this section apply not only to the chimney of a
building, but also to the chimney serving the furnace of any boiler or
industrial plant attached to a building or for the time being fixed to
or installed on any land.
SECTION 2 (Temporary exemptions for section one), enacts that for a
period of not more than seven years from the passing of the Act it will
be a defence to prove
(a) that the contravention was due to the nature of the building
and equipment and not to failure in use or maintenance, and
(b) that it had not been practicable to make the alterations
necessary to prevent the emission of dark smoke.
On application, the local authority may at any time during the seven
years issue a certificate (for one year but renewable) stating that
they are satisfied that it had not been practicable to make the required
alterations. Such a certificate may be limited to particular chimneys
of a building.