AIR POLLUTION (Hansard, 22 November 1966)

§ Mr. Robert Edwards (Bilston)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make further provisions against the pollution of the air; to confer further powers upon local authorities in this respect; to amend the law with regard to diesel and other exhaust fumes; and for purposes connected therewith. Members of Parliament have great privileges. Their task invariably enables them to work for the good of many people and it is, therefore, a fulfilling task. Occasionally, however, Members are greatly frustrated because they fail to deal with simple problems which affect their constituents and many others. During my 11 years as a Member, I have been frustrated on only two occasions. One was when a constituent of mine purchased a house and mortgaged it for 20 years. The house broke in half and became uninhabitable. He had nowhere to live, but he still had to carry on paying on his mortgage for 20 years.

There was nothing I could do to help this good man and his family, and I was greatly frustrated. To get rid of my frustration, I submitted a Bill under the Ten Minutes Rule, and I believe that now, as a consequence of it, what happened to my constituent cannot happen again to other people if they take normal precautions.

Today, I ask leave to bring in a Bill to deal with the pollution of the air. Again, I have been greatly frustrated, because, for a number of years now, I have been trying, with others of my hon. Friends and people outside, to protect many thousands of my constituents from smoke, dust and smells which come from an important foundry in the locality where they live. None of our Acts of Parliament, however, enable us to protect these good people.

To save the time of the House, I shall read from a letter from a constituent which puts the situation in clear perspective. She writes: May I draw your attention to our plight? I live in a council house It is a lovely house which has only been up seven years. The trouble is that there is a foundry behind us which blows filthy smoke and dirt all over us day and night. When I hang out my washing I get my lungs full of filthy smoke. Some days I cannot put out the washing. The other 1166 day I was coming back from shopping and found the main road covered in fog. This fog was due to damp smoke converting itself into fog. She goes on to say: People who come to my house when the dirty smoke is blowing all down the street say to me, 'I would not live here if the rent was free'. The doctor came to see me and he said, 'It is enough to kill you, living in this filth. No wonder you have bronchitis'. That is one of many scores of letters which I have received from constituents. These people, on an estate of about 600, have formed an association to try to abate the nuisance. They have petitioned the Prime Minister. They have petitioned the local authorities. I have been successful in getting two local authorities to set up a joint committee to try to persuade the foundry to do something about the dreadful nuisance.

All our efforts over five years have been completely abortive because the Acts of Parliament dealing with pollution of the air do not enable us to deal with this kind of situation. In many areas of our land we are losing control of our environment. As I have said in the House on other occasions, when people lose control of their environment they become slaves of that environment. We do a lot to guarantee that the water we drink is clean, but the air we breathe is even more important than water. I therefore wish to bring in a Bill to make modest amendments to existing Acts and regulations so that we can deal with the rising tide of air pollution.

Recently, the Society of the Chemical Industry stated in a report on air pollution that it still costs the country, after 10 years of the Clean Air Act, £350 million a year because of air pollution, and in that report—I agree with it—the Society complained that the facilities and opportunities provided by the Clean Air Act are not being fully used.

For example, the councils set up under the Act are not vigorous enough. They should be responsible for annual progress reports to the House. Although, in 10 years, over 2,000 areas have been declared smokeless zones, hundreds of tons of coal are still being sold in those areas in violation of the law, and there is no means of applying a sanction against the coal merchants. It is only the consumer who has to face the possibility of prosecution. 1167 So the Act needs amending to put some penalty on coal merchants who know the smokeless zone areas, but who, in spite of that knowledge, violate the laws of this country.

The air is being polluted by smoke and fumes from diesel oil engines, and we require a small amendment to the regulations that cover smoke from motor vehicles. Regulations 80 to 81 prohibit any emission of smoke, etc., which Causes or is likely to cause injury to any person on the road or danger to such persons. A simple amendment to the regulations, deleting the word "danger" and substituting the word "annoyance", would make the emission of diesel fumes an offence, and it would help considerably in dealing with this nuisance.

In America and Belgium, and in many othe countries, there are the means and the legislation to deal with this problem. I must not abuse the privilege of submitting a Motion under the Ten Minute Rule, although this is a vast subject which lends itself to a long recital on the evils that arise out of the pollution of our atmosphere. I hope that hon. Members will grant me leave to submit the Bill to the House.