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53
During the year 1,629 applications for adapting fireplaces serving
private dwellings were approved at a total cost to the Council of £25,115 17s. 9d
In ten cases relating to 12 adaptations, payment of 100% of the approved cost
was made in respect of each adaptation.
Pursuant to the provisions of section 30 (duty to notify occupiers of
offences) written notice of contraventions of Section 1 or 11 were sent to the
occupiers of the three premises concerned.
The following table summarises the work of the department in connection
with the implementation of the Clean Air Act:
No. of complaints received 58
No. of contraventions of Section 1 (Dark Smoke) 1
No. of contraventions of Section 11 (Smoke Control Areas) 2
No. of notifications to occupiers of offences (Section 30) 2
No. of formal smoke nuisances notices served (Section 16)
No. of applications for approval of new furnaces (Section 3) 9
No. of informal notices to owners of properties in Smoke Control areas
regarding adaptations 331
No. of formal notices served (Section 12)
The new London Borough maintained four atmospheric pollution stations,
each of which is equipped with a volumetric sulphur dioxide instrument with smoke
filter attachment, at the following sites:-
Town Hall, Mare Street,
Lampard Grove Depot,
Rushmore Road Primary School,
Metropolitan Hospital.
The Greater London Council maintained two stations, one in Victoria Park
and another at the Ambulance Station, Brooksby' s Walk.
During the year a number of complaints were dealt with regarding the
quantity of fuel supplied to various residents of the Borough. These usually
related to the alleged substitution of cheaper non-reactive smokeless fuel for
the more expensive premium fuels, the physical characteristics being so similar
as to make definite identification not possible. A number of complaints have
also been dealt with in respect of the delivery of smokeless fuel to flat
dwellers, particularly those above first floor level. In all of these cases
the Department has been able to satisfy the complainants through the offices
of the fuel suppliers concerned or the Society of Coal Merchants.
The most important Ministry circulars concerning Clean Air issued in
1965 dealt with an extended and revised list of cost limits for various types
of appliances, and a revised method simplifying the calculation of estimates
and claims for installations.
There is a greater tendency towards the installation of gas fires and
solid fuel appliances. Many gas appliances fall into the category 'fixed but
readily removable' and where installed by tenants they must be the subject of
a deferred grant, half the grant being paid when the appliance is installed
and the other half two years after the operative date, if the appliance is
still in its original position.
The disposal of the large quantity of wood waste which is produced as a
result of the concentration of wood working factories (in the Shoreditch area
and timber mills (Lea Embankment) has caused the Department some concern.
Prior to the enforcement of Smoke Control Areas the greater proportion of such
waste was disposed of by means of incineration and now the difficulty of such
incineration without the production of smoke has produced a problem of major
- significance.