The Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) (Amendment) Regulations 1998

Made: 31st August 1998

Laid before Parliament: 7th September 1998

Coming into force: 28th September 1998

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, as respects England and Wales, and the Secretary of State for Scotland, as respects Scotland, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 20(6) and 63(1) of the Clean Air Act 1993¹ and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) (Amendment) Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 28th September 1998.

Authorised fuels for the purposes of the Clean Air Act 1993

2

Schedule 1 to the Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) Regulations 1991² shall be amended as follows:

• (a) after paragraph 1 there shall be inserted–

(1A) Aimcor Excel briquettes, manufactured by Applied Industrial Materials UK Limited at Newfield, Co. Durham, which– (a) comprise petroleum coke (as to 60 per cent to 75 per cent of the total weight), low volatile coal and reactive coke (as to 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the total weight) and cold-setting resin binder (as to the remaining weight); (b) were manufactured from those constituents by a process involving roll pressing; (c) are unmarked pillow-shaped briquettes and have an average weight of 73 grammes; and (d) have a sulphur content not exceeding 2 per cent of the total weight.

• (b) for paragraph 4B³ there shall be substituted–

(4B) BFL Fireside, which are marketed by British Fuels Limited and are the same as Supertherm briquettes as described in paragraph 18 below.

• (c) paragraph 13B⁴ shall be revoked;

• (d) after paragraph 14 there shall be inserted–

(14A) Newflame briquettes, manufactured by Maxibrite Limited, at Llantrisant, Mid-Glamorgan, which– (a) comprise anthracite (as to approximately 75 per cent of the total weight), petroleum coke (as to approximately 21 per cent of the total weight) and starch with a catalyst as binder (as to the remaining weight); (b) were manufactured from those constituents by a process involving roll pressing and heat treatment at about 250°C; (c) are unmarked pillow-shaped briquettes and have an average weight of 78 grammes; and (d) have a sulphur content not exceeding 2 per cent of the total weight.

• (e) after paragraph 16A⁵ there shall be inserted–

(16B) Safelight Firelogs, manufactured by Advanced Natural Fuels Limited, at Pocklington, East Yorkshire, which– (a) comprise woodchip (as to approximately 40 per cent to 55 per cent of the total weight) and Palm Wax binder (as to approximately 45 per cent to 60 per cent of the total weight); (b) were manufactured from those constituents by a process involving pressing of the mixed ingredients at about 40° to 50°C; (c) are rectangular hard finish Firelogs with two deep overlapping slots in the top surface, a single continuous slot in the base surface, and have an average weight of 1.8 kilogrammes; and (d) have a sulphur content not exceeding 2 per cent of the total weight.

Revocations

3

Regulation 2(3) of the Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) (Amendment) Regulations 1992, in so far as it inserts paragraph 13B into Schedule 1 to the Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) Regulations 1991, and regulation 2(3) of the Smoke Control Areas (Authorised Fuels) Regulations 1993 are hereby revoked.

Signed

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Michael Meacher — Minister of State, — Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions — 27th August 1998

Sewel — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office — 31st August 1998

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Section 20 of the Clean Air Act 1993 provides that where smoke is emitted from a chimney in a smoke control area, and that chimney is either–

• (a) a chimney of a building; or

• (b) a chimney serving the furnace of a fixed boiler or industrial plant (not being a chimney of a building),

the occupier of the building or, as the case may be, the person having possession of the boiler or plant, is guilty of an offence. It is a defence to show that the alleged emission was caused solely by the use of an authorised fuel.

These Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, amend the Smoke Control (Authorised Fuels) Regulations 1991 so that the following additional fuels are now authorised–

• (a) Aimcor Excel briquettes;

• (b) Newflame briquettes (replacing a previously authorised briquette manufactured by the same manufacturer);

• (c) Safelight Firelogs.

Footnotes