Commentary on Sections Part 1 – Air quality Smoke control Section 19 – Regulation of smoke and fuel in smoke control areas
98.Section 19 inserts new sections 19E – 19H into Part 3 of the Clean Air Act 1993(2) (c. 11) (referred to as “the 1993 Act” in these Explanatory Notes). Part 3 of the 1993 Act makes provision for the control and prevention of air pollution by smoke and other related emissions.
99.Section 18 of the 1993 Act enables a local authority to make a smoke control order declaring the whole or any part of its area a smoke control area. Under section 19 of the 1993 Act, the Welsh Ministers can, in certain circumstances, direct a local authority in Wales to exercise its powers to create a smoke control area.
100.New section 19E of the 1993 Act applies Schedule 1A to the 1993 Act to Wales so that the unauthorised emission of smoke in a smoke control area attracts a civil penalty. Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Act makes further amendments to Schedule 1A to the 1993 Act for this purpose. The criminal offences in section 20 of the 1993 Act are repealed in relation to Wales (see paragraph 12 of Schedule 1 to the Act).
101.New section 19F(1)(a)-(c) of the 1993 Act makes it an offence to acquire any solid fuel for use in a building, fireplace, fixed boiler or industrial plant to which a smoke control order in Wales applies. These offences do not apply to authorised fuels. Under new section 19G(3), the Welsh Minsters may keep a list of authorised fuels and where they do so, they must publish it.
102.The offence in section 19F(1)(b) does not apply if, at the time the solid fuel is acquired, the fireplace in question is on the list of exempt fireplaces published by the Welsh Minsters under new section 19G(1). The Welsh Ministers can only include a fireplace on the list if they are satisfied that the fireplace can, if used in compliance with any conditions specified in the list, be used for burning unauthorised solid fuel without producing any smoke or a substantial quantity of smoke.
103.New section 19F(1)(d) of the 1993 Act makes it an offence to sell unauthorised fuel for delivery to a building to which a smoke control order in Wales applies or to premises with a fixed boiler or industrial plant to which a smoke control order in Wales applies. No offence is committed if the person selling the fuel can establish one of the defences in section 19F(5).
104.The offence in new section 19F(1)(d) of the 1993 Act does not apply to authorised fuels.
105.Under new section 19H(1)(b) of the 1993 Act, the Welsh Minsters can suspend or relax the operation of the offences in section 19F(1)(a)-(d) in relation to the whole or part of a particular smoke control area in Wales. They can only do so if it appears necessary or expedient to do so and they have first consulted the local authority that declared the smoke control area in question (unless consultation is impracticable due to urgency).
106.Under section 19H(1)(a), the Welsh Ministers can also suspend or relax the operation of Schedule 1A to the 1993 Act in relation to the whole or part of a smoke control area in Wales. They can only do so if it appears necessary or expedient to do so and they must first consult the local authority that declared the smoke control area in question (unless consultation is impracticable due to urgency).