Mr Robert Maxwell: I beg to move Amendment No. 8, in page 2, line 30, leave out 'this section' and insert: 'section (Exemptions from requirement to fit arrestment plant)'. What I wanted to do here is to provide a right of appeal to the Minister. Clause 3(4) provides that the local authority may, where it sees fit, exempt an individual furnace and the requirement on the owner of the furnace to have a grit and...
Mr Robert Maxwell: I am sure that the hon. Member's fears will prove unfounded. A right of appeal was asked for by the Confederation of British Industry to safeguard the industry from local authority severity.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I must ask the Committee to resist this Amendment. The figure of 100 lb. per hour was chosen because that is the level at which the emission of grit and dust begins to be significant. The working party on chimney heights, in 1961–62, recommended that control of chimney heights should operate from this level and the working party on grit and dust, which was set up in 1964 at the request of...
Mr Robert Maxwell: I am sure that that cannot be so. Parliament will always be able to amend the Clause.
Mr Robert Maxwell: Perhaps I might ask for a legal or technical explanation here from the Department. I should be most grateful to have it before answering the hon. Gentleman.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I am much obliged to the hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends for the progress which they have allowed the Bill to make. I have much sympathy with the purpose of this Amendment, and I am happy to accept it.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Luton (Mr. Howie). I propose to accept the Amendment, because initially I asked for 30 days for the very reasons mentioned by the hon. Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Costain). The Ministry asked for eight weeks, because local authorities are very busy in meeting the many demands made upon them. Four weeks could impose a tight schedule....
Mr Robert Maxwell: I am advised that the position as it stands is adequate, but I will carefully consider whether what the hon. Gentleman has suggested would improve the situation.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising this point. As far as I am aware, that is the intention. I wounder whether my hon. Friend the Joint Parliamentary Secretary has anything to add. If he has not, I am certain that a careful note will be taken of this point raised by the Federation.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I beg to move Amendment No. 33, in page 15, line 9, leave out "dust"', and insert '"emitted"'.
Mr Robert Maxwell: The purpose of the Amendment is to correct a drafting error in paragraph 10 of the Schedule. The paragraph is intended to amend the definition of "chimney" in Section 34(1) of the Clean Air Act, 1956 in two aspects—first by adding "fumes" to "smoke, grit or dust", so that a structure or opening through which fumes may be emitted comes within the definition, and, second, by defining...
Mr Robert Maxwell: It would take me some time to redraft, and I shall give very careful consideration to the suggestion of the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mr. Allason) that this might be amended in another place. Since there is other legislation to be dealt with, I hope that the hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends will permit the Amendment to stand.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I know nothing of certificated Bills and this Measure was not suggested to me by the Patronage Secretary or anyone else in the Government. I represent a constituency with considerable air pollution problems. Buckingham and North Bucks is the centre for fletton bricks and there is a major works in my constituency. There is the prospect of the new city of Milton Keys and the problems of water...
Mr Robert Maxwell: I withdraw it unreservedly.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I will give way when I am ready. In any event, I do not think that the hon. Gentleman deserves my giving way to him. I do not consider it necessary for me to speak at great length in support of the Motion. I merely wish to point out the various excellent reasons why it would be appropriate for the Bill to be removed from Standing Committee and committed to a Committee of the whole House....
Mr Robert Maxwell: I am just coming to that, Mr. Deputy Speaker. As is well known, excellent progress has been made throughout the country, but London in particular is out ahead in the matter of smoke control and clean air. The Clean Air Act laid the basis of the progress that has been achieved in the past 12 years. It was not a harassing Measure. I merely gave effect to what everybody wanted—
Mr Robert Maxwell: The 1956 Act had all-party support and, as a matter of—
Mr Robert Maxwell: I will do that, Mr. Deputy Speaker. As a matter of practical Parliamentary business, it is extremely important that the Bill should not be left in Standing Committee. It so happens that the Divorce Reform Bill falls to be taken before it in Standing Committee C, and this is likely to take a long time to be considered. There is, therefore, a real risk that the Clean Air Bill might not be...
Mr Robert Maxwell: On the other hand, the Bill is eminently suitable for consideration in Committee of the whole House. Its provisions are few, clear and straightforward and it commands the widest support. It would do something that needs doing. We all agreed that when we gave the Bill an unopposed Second Reading on 16th February. If we did that, why should we now run the risk of it not being reached in...
Mr Robert Maxwell: I have been asked to reply. Fresh milk was reintroduced for beverages from Monday, 25th March, 1968.
