Clean Air Act 1956
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1956 c. 52 |
| Year | 1956 |
Clean Air Act , 1956
(4 & 5 Eliz. 2) 52
An Act to make provision for abating the pollution of the air.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Dark Smoke
1 Prohibition of dark smoke from chimneys.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, dark smoke shall not be emitted from a chimney of any building, and if, on any day, dark smoke is so emitted, the occupier of the building shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) Emissions of smoke from any chimney lasting for not longer than such periods as may be specified by the Minister by regulations shall, in such classes of case and subject to such limitations as may be so specified, be left out of account for the purposes of this section.
(3) In any proceedings for an offence under this section, it shall be a defence to prove either—
(a ) that the contravention complained of was solely due to the lighting up of a furnace which was cold and that all practicable steps had been taken to prevent or minimise the emission of dark smoke; or
(b ) that the contravention complained of was solely due to some failure of a furnace or of apparatus used in connection with a furnace, that that failure could not reasonably have been foreseen, or, if foreseen, could not reasonably have been provided against, and that the contravention could not reasonably have been prevented by action taken after the failure occurred; or
(c ) that the contravention complained of was solely due to the use of unsuitable fuel, that suitable fuel was unobtainable, that the least unsuitable fuel which was available was used and that all practicable steps had been taken to prevent or minimise the emission of dark smoke as the result of the use thereof; or
(d ) that the contravention complained of was due to the combination of two or more of the causes specified in paragraphs (a ) to (c ) of this subsection and that the other conditions specified in those paragraphs are satisfied in relation to those causes respectively.
(4) This section shall apply in relation to a chimney serving the furnace of any boiler or industrial plant (being a boiler or plant attached to a building or for the time being fixed to or installed on any land) as it applies in relation to a chimney of a building:
Provided that in relation to any such chimney as aforesaid which is not a chimney of a building, the reference in this section to the occupier of the building shall be construed as a reference to the person having possession of the boiler or plant.
2 Temporary exemptions from section one.
(1) In any proceedings for an offence under section one of this Act for any contravention of that section occurring not more than seven years from the passing of this Act, being a contravention occurring in relation to the chimney of a building, it shall be a defence to prove—
(a ) that the contravention was due to the nature of the building or its equipment and was not due to any failure properly to maintain the building or properly to maintain and use the equipment of the building; and
(b ) that it had not been practicable to alter or equip the building so as to enable it to be used or fully used for the purpose for which it was intended without the likelihood of contraventions of the said section one.
(2) If, at any time before the expiration of the said seven years, the local authority are satisfied, on the application of any person interested in any building, that it has not been practicable to alter or equip the building so as to enable it to be used or fully used as aforesaid, the local authority may, if they think fit, issue from time to time a certificate to that effect, and while such a certificate is in force, it shall be conclusive evidence of the facts therein stated for the purposes of paragraph (b ) of subsection (1) of this section.
(3) A certificate under subsection (2) of this section shall be in force for one year from the date of the issue thereof or for such shorter period as may be specified therein, so, however that a certificate issued after the expiration of six, but before the expiration of seven, years from the passing of this Act shall not remain in force after the expiration of the said seven years.
(4) A certificate under subsection (2) of this section may, if the local authority think fit, be limited to particular chimneys of the building and in that event the operation of the said subsection (2) shall be limited to contraventions in respect of those chimneys.
(5) This section shall apply in relation to a chimney serving the furnace of any boiler or industrial plant as it applies in relation to a chimney of a building:
Provided that, in relation to any such chimney as aforesaid which is not a chimney of a building, for the references in this section to the building and to maintaining it there shall be substituted references respectively to the furnace and any apparatus used in connection therewith and to maintaining or using the furnace and any such apparatus and the references in this section to the equipment of the building or equipping the building shall be omitted.
Smoke from furnaces
3 Requirement that new furnaces shall be so far as practicable smokeless.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, no furnace shall be installed in a building or in any boiler or industrial plant attached to a building or for the time being fixed to or installed on any land unless it is so far as practicable capable of being operated continuously without emitting smoke when burning fuel of a type for which the furnace was designed, and any person who installs a furnace in contravention of this subsection or on whose instructions a furnace is so installed shall be guilty of an offence:
Provided that this subsection shall not apply to a furnace the installation of which has been begun, or an agreement for the purchase or installation of which has been entered into, before the appointed day.
(2) Any furnace installed in accordance with plans and specifications submitted to, and approved for the purposes of this section by, the local authority shall be deemed to comply with the provisions of subsection (1) of this section.
(3) A furnace to which subsection (1) of this section applies shall not be installed in a building or in any such boiler or plant as is mentioned in the said subsection (1) unless notice of the proposal to install it has been given to the local authority, and any person who installs a furnace in contravention of this subsection or on whose instructions a furnace is so installed shall be guilty of an offence.
(4) This section shall not apply to furnaces designed solely or mainly for use for domestic purposes, not being furnaces of boilers with a maximum heating capacity of fifty-five thousand or more British thermal units per hour.
(5) This section shall apply in relation to the attachment to a building of a boiler or industrial plant which already contains a furnace or the fixing to or installation on any land of any such boiler or plant as it applies in relation to the installation of a furnace in any boiler or industrial plant attached to a building or for the time being fixed to or installed on any land.
4 Density meters, &c.
(1) Regulations made by the Minister may in such cases as may be prescribed by the regulations impose requirements as to—
(a ) providing and installing apparatus for the purpose of indicating or recording (or indicating and recording) the density or darkness of smoke emitted from any furnace in any building or any furnace of any boiler or industrial plant not being a furnace in a building, or of facilitating the observation of smoke so emitted with a view to ascertaining its density or darkness;
(b ) making adaptations for any such purpose to any chimney serving such a furnace;
(c ) using and maintaining apparatus provided in pursuance of the regulations; and
(d ) making available to the local authority any results recorded by such apparatus.
(2) If regulations under this section are contravened in relation to a furnace, the occupier of the building or, as the case may be, the person in possession of the boiler or plant shall be guilty of an offence.
Grit and Dust from furnaces
5 Requirement that grit and dust from furnaces shall be minimised.
(1) The occupier of any building in which a furnace is used to burn solid fuel or solid waste, or of any building or land in or on which an oven is used to subject solid fuel to any process involving the application of heat, shall use any practicable means there may be for minimising the emission of grit and dust from any chimney which serves the furnace or oven and if he fails so to do, he shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) This section shall not apply to furnaces designed solely or mainly for domestic purposes, not being furnaces of boilers with a maximum heating capacity of fifty-five thousand or more British thermal units per hour.
6 Requirement that new furnaces shall be fitted with plant to arrest grit and dust.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, no furnace in any building shall be used—
(a ) to burn pulverised fuel; or
(b ) to burn, at a rate of one ton an hour or more, solid fuel in any other form or solid waste;
and no oven in any building or on any land shall be used to subject...
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