Power Station, Leicester (Dust Emissions)

– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 11 July 1963.

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Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Hugh Rees.]

12.25 a.m.

Photo of Mr Barnett Janner Mr Barnett Janner , Leicester North West

For many years a great number of residents in Leicester, particularly housewives, have been plagued by emissions of gritty grey dust which covers everything. Fine black soot plays havoc with washing and my hon. Friends who represent Leicester constituencies and I receive repeated complaints about this menace.

The constant anxieties and complaints are reminiscent of the Song of the Shirt. To take it a stage further, the words of the song in this context should be,"Blacker than black" because of the persistent nerve-racking effects this fall out is having on the inhabitants of Leicester. Some complaints were listed in the Leicester Illustrated Chronicle on 11th May of last year. Despite repeated promises the position is still very bad. That newspaper stated: Grey grit lays about thickly on window-sills any penetrates into every corner of a house. Sooty dust usually arrives at the same time as the grit, stains anything it falls upon, particularly washing. Smoke—the latest menace. Mothers are worried about the effect it might have on their children. 'Every time the wind blows from the direction of the Power Station we know there is going to be a fall of grit and soot', said one woman. This menace is not something that has occurred in the last few months or even years. It has been going on in Leicester for 17 years or more. Soiled washing has been taken to the power station and, on occasions, compensation has been paid. The authorities at the power station are fully aware, as the Joint Parliamentary Secretary must be, of the serious situation.

In one area last July undiluted soot blacked the faces of office workers who were hurrying to work, it smothered cars which had been carefully polished on the Sunday and it ruined the Monday wash. A person complaining to the Leicester Mercury described it as …soul destroying. As soon as you get the room cleaned up it is filthy again. It happens nearly every day and dust falls like a steady black rain. I understand that people have moved from their homes in consequence of the gravity of the menace with which they were confronted.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, South-West (Mr. Bowden), who has been particularly active for years in his advocacy of the removal of this menace, would have raised this matter many times in the House, as I have done, if his office as Chief Whip did not make this impossible. He and my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, North-East (Mr. Bradley) join me in strongly protesting against the continuance of this trouble. I cannot for the life of me understand why the Minister has not had the matter effectively dealt with. He has constantly promised that improvements will take place, but there is little, if any, evidence of such improvement.

I will quote from some of the letters I have received recently from my constituents. Mrs. Poole, living in one of the streets off Narborough Road, writes: About the dust from the power station, during this April it was very bad indeed again, and the beginning of May I had my painter wash down the paint on my house which I had decorated last year. He complained very much of the state of the black dirt which he said had penetrated into the paint and some of the first coat came off as he was cleaning it. His hands were just terrible with a burning sensation and were red and swollen. In his own words, he said. 'I have never seen anything like it before'. That lady complains that it is caused by the emission from the power station.

Mr. Webb, of Marlow Road, writes: It is a common sight to see the chimneys of the power station belching forth clouds of yellow smoke which leave a trail of filth everywhere. Mrs. Bristowe, also of Marlow Road, writes: I feel I must register a very strong protest against the smoke and filth which constantly issue from Leicester power station. This filth and grime is seeping into our house (and into our lungs) all the time. And this is Leicester which at one time we regarded as the cleanest city in England. Surely, with all this talk of health, hygiene and smokeless zones, it is high time that adequate measures were taken to abate this nuisance. Another lady writes: I am sorry to say that we are never free from dust and filth, and now they are talking about smokeless zones. They put up my rates £12 this year. It is disgusting. What will be the end of all this?—more rates, and more dirt. Another resident writes: The smut nuisance is far from abating. Each day we sweep it out, and even the plants and flowers are black. There seems no point in taking a pride in either garden or house, and very often the washing has to be fetched in and rinsed again. It has gone on so long it seems useless to protest. I am quoting these letters because it is important to make clear what is still happening, in view of comments made from time to time by the Ministry to the effect that the trouble is being abated. But these are recent letters, which speak in terms far more eloquent than I could possibly conjure up. I am very deeply impressed by what these people write and by what I know myself to be the facts.

Mr. Neal, of Evelyn Drive, wrote to me last January: This week we have been treated to a shower of grit as bad as any in my experience, and if anyone would care to experience the phenomenon of black snow they are welcome to look at my back garden. The windows, cleaned only a week ago, are thick with black powder, and my new white paintwork (last August!) is pitiful to see. This morning, I saw two neighbours washing their front gates. Mrs. Wells, at No. 20 Evelyn Drive, told me that yesterday morning she hung out her week's washing and half an hour later had to take it in and wash it again. Another resident comments: One is daily waging a losing battle against the grey, gritty deposit that descends on floors, furnishings, clothes and one's own skin and hair. Within minutes of scrubbing, dusting and polishing, there is film of this dirt covering everything. I have received similar letters from all parts of my constituency, and I know that this state of affairs obtains in other parts of the city. It is ironic that, at the same time as this is happening, smoke control orders are being put into force which compel many people—many of them the same housewives who are affected by the unbearable fall-out of filth—to use smokeless fuels with a view to preventing contamination of the air.

What sense is there in a farcical situation of this sort being continued? How can the Minister possibly expect people to comply with the Clean Air Orders when the Government themselves are so lax in protecting them against contaminated air? I have asked previously that the Clean Air Orders should be suspended until the situation has been properly dealt with so that the effect of the Clean Air Orders may be that the air will in fact beclean, but apparently that does not appeal to the Minister. I ask the Parliamentary Secretary why it does not. What is the logic of continuing these Orders and making people dissatisfied in a way which is inevitable in view of what is happening? It is foolish to do something which has no sense in it, especially in view of the fact that, immediately they have done what they are called on to do, people find this fall-out descending on them.

I hope that the Parliamentary Secretary will tell us either that he is moving this power station or that he has been able to find some effective way of dealing with the position. This is not a small matter, because it affects the lives of many people. In this scientific age it is no good the Minister saying that we have no means of dealing with the matter, because people are entitled to cleanliness. Seventeen years is a long time, and people's patience is nearly exhausted. He knows as well as I what happens when constituents' patience is exhausted. He does not feel the immediate effect, but I remind him of the saying, which I paraphrase, that Hell knows no fury greater than that of a woman who herself is in a furious state. He is in for a rough time if my colleagues and I have to pass on to him the anxieties and troubles which are piled on us in this matter. He will not hear the end of it. He had better do something about it, because if he does not, we shall continue to press him. The sooner he takes action, the better. I hope that we shall have a satisfactory answer tonight.

12.30 a.m.

Photo of Mr Frederick Corfield Mr Frederick Corfield , Gloucestershire South

I congratulate the hon. Member for Leicester, North-West (Sir B. Janner) both on his pertinacity in staying up so late to attend to the interests of his constituents and on doing so firmly, courteously and moderately. Despite the hour, I welcome the opportunity, first of all, of saying that I appreciate the anxiety and disturbance which is caused to his constituents and also of making it clear that much has been done, is being done and will be done to put things right. I have gone into the matter very carefully, and I am satisfied that the Alkali Inspectorate, my right hon. Friend's responsibility for which brings my Ministry into the matter, is taking its obligations very conscientiously indeed.

May I remind the hon. Member of a little of the history of the power station? It is an old one; it goes back over 30 years. The present low-pressure boilers, which are the oldest, were installed in 1927 and 1936. The main power effort of the station is produced by the four modern high-pressure boilers, which were added in 1950; these take 80 per cent. of the load normally and in the off-peak period take an even greater proportion. The low-pressure boilers take the marginal load. I do not suggest that pressure in itself has anything to do with the liability of these boilers to cause this nuisance, but it is an indication of age, in that pressures have been considerably stepped up over the years. Even the high-pressure boilers in this station are relatively old fashioned by the latest standards. The reason that the low-pressure boilers give trouble is that when they were built much less was known about these problems than is known today, and standards were very much lower. Consequently, the modern equipment, which is fitted as a matter of course to the newer plant, has to be modified quite considerably to adapt it to the older boilers. This often involves great difficulty and a certain amount of hit and miss to get the right answer.

The station was built by the City Corporation, who owned it until the vesting date in 1948. It came under the Alkali Inspectorate only in 1958, when it was found that the control of emissions of smoke, grit and the like from electricity generating stations generally presented difficult technical problems which required the specialised knowledge of the Alkali Inspectorate. The Inspectorate took over the responsibility from the City Corporation.

Since then, the Inspectorate has agreed with the Central Electricity Generating Board the general lines of attacking these problems and has laid down the standards to be aimed at. I am told that the standards which are set for the small- and medium-size stations—the one in question would be classified as of medium size—are about the highest in the world. They are expressed technically as ·2 of a grain—of dust or grit as the case may be—per cubic foot.

As the hon. Member will remember, the Alkali Act requires that the"best practicable means" be taken to produce satisfactory conditions and defines that expression as including the provision and the efficient maintenance of appliances and also the manner in which they are used and the proper supervision of operations.

When the Alkali Inspectorate took over in 1958, it found that the emission from this power station reached 1grain per cubic foot, namely, five times the standard now laid down, but this was found to be due in large degree to in different maintenance and operation of the equipment. As a result of careful attention to the maintenance of the existing arresting plant and frequent and regular inspections by the Inspectorate, the emission of grit has been reduced to one-third of what it was when the Inspectorate took over responsibility. Credit should be given for this achievement.

The trouble arises, however, first, because the high-pressure boilers have two precipitators for each boiler, but there is only one electrical rectifier for each pair of boilers. There is, therefore, one rectifier for four precipitators. The function of a rectifier is to ensure that the alternating current is rectified, so that the current is moving between the plates of the precipitator in the same direction throughout. I understand this to be the basic principle on which the precipitators are built.

If anything goes wrong with a rectifier in those conditions, however, four precipitators are put out of action or, at least, affected. This has been the basic cause of the intermittent trouble with the precipitators, although when they are working adequately we get down to less than one-third of the former rate of emission. The figure has been down to.25 of a grain per cubic foot.

I should like to say what the Electricity Board is doing in co-operation with the Inspectorate. First, in the high-pressure boilers, a third precipitator is being put in to each boiler, so that there will be three precipitators in series and each precipitator will have its own rectifier. This means that instead of having one rectifier for two boilers, there will be six rectifiers for two boilers. This is being done. The orders were placed fairly recently and it is hoped that the equipment will be in operation by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

The total cost of the rectifiers is something like £90,000. The reason why the order for the main equipment was placed only fairly recently is that it was necessary to try this method out to see if it was the right answer. They did try it out on one boiler, with a rectifier per precipitator, and this reduced the emission from that boiler down to the standard of 0.2 of a grain per cubic ft. or lower. So there is every indication that we are moving towards complete success.

The low-pressure boilers are less of a problem; they are used less often because they come in on the marginal load rather than the main load, but here also there is the problem of one rectifier, and here again there will be a rectifier per precipitator. The main incident of a really bad emission, to which the hon. Gentleman referred, I am afraid was a human error. Somebody turned on the blast of air which is necessary to get the furnace going, without lighting the furnace, and what came down on the unfortunate neighbours was fine coal dust rather than ash. Here again, although one can never guarantee to eliminate the human element, of course more modern appliances are much more automatic, and that sort of thing is less likely to happen than with the older plant. I understand that the Electricity Board did its best in offering to pay cleaning bills and so on.

The other problem which arises is that the precipitator plates, which collect the dust as the result of the electrical current, have to be rapped, as it is called, fairly frequently, that is they have to be hammered pretty hard to shake the dust off. This is a mechanism which, I gather, even in the most modern precipitators, presents quite difficult problems. Attention is being directed to improving the rapping mechanism at this power station as far as the high-pressure boilers are concerned. I understand that the low-pressure boilers' rapping has been working quite satisfactorily. So we are moving forward on three fronts, more rectifiers, increasing the number of precipitators for the high-pressure boilers, and improving the rapping mechanism.

In addition to that, in order to cut down the inherent dust in the operaton, special low ash-content fuel is mixed with the main grade of fuel up to the proportion of 20 per cent. It cannot be done to a greater percentage, simply because this fuel is in very short supply.

The total expenditure on this operation is £190,000 for the precipitators which will be installed between now and this time next year, and £90,000 for the rectifiers, which we hope to have working by the beginning of next year. The difficulty is, of course, that this station has to be kept going to meet the load; it is only possible to have a part of it out of commission at a time, to do the necessary work, and it is complicated equipment which has to be worked for these rather old boilers.

Photo of Mr Barnett Janner Mr Barnett Janner , Leicester North West

Would the hon. Gentleman inquire whether this old machinery can be replaced? He is referring to single instances. There is no question of single instances. This appears to be a continuous difficulty. Consequently, something must be done about it. If it is old machinery it ought to be replaced. It may cost a lot more. Nevertheless, the health of the people there is very important.

Photo of Mr Frederick Corfield Mr Frederick Corfield , Gloucestershire South

As far as the high-pressure boilers are concerned, I understand they have a considerable life ahead of them, but I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will appreciate that even now with two precipitators per boiler, with eight precipitators, only one has to go wrong to increase the dust above the standard amount quite substantially. As I say, very often when anything goes wrong it affects all four, because of the tie up between the rectifiers and the precipitators.

I am sure the hon. Gentleman appreciates that these things cannot be done over night.

Photo of Mr Frederick Corfield Mr Frederick Corfield , Gloucestershire South

The hon. Gentleman says seventeen years, but the Alkali Inspectorate has only been responsible for this for five years and it has during that time increased the efficiency very remarkably simply by good maintenance, in the first place, and now by helping a great deal with the plans for improvement which, as I say, it has now been fairly conclusively shown is the right thing to do.

The hon. Gentleman will, I am sure, appreciate that my Ministry is only responsible for this matter through the Alkali Inspectorate, so that though I have much sympathy for his constituents it is not fair to blame us for the other nine years. We have taken over only recently and since that time the Inspectorate has produced a very marked improvement. But I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the Alkali Inspectorate, and particularly the district inspector concerned, visit the place very regularly. There have been eight visits this year, which is more than one a month. I am satisfied that everything possible is being done.

The responsibility for fitting the equipment and getting the orders is with the Electricity Board. But, here again, the best information I have is that those responsible are satisfied that this is going to produce a cure and that they are pushing ahead.

With regard to the question of the older plant, I understand that the Electricity Board has a programme by which older plant falls out as new plant comes in, but this is something about which the hon. Gentleman would be well advised to tackle the Board direct rather than take second-hand information from me.

As I say, 80 per cent. of the load is on the high-pressure boilers. They have a relatively long life; they are the section on which attention is mainly directed, and which is absorbing the greater part of this very considerable expenditure.

I do not really think that the hon. Gentleman and I are all that far apart. He is naturally impatient, but I am sure that in his ordinary domestic and business life he realises that these things cannot be done by a wave of the wand. Of course, the Board would not be justified in spending this amount of money unless it were satisfied that there was at least a reasonable chance of its producing the result. I think it right that when the Board is spending public money it should ensure that it is on the right lines. Indeed, it would be no help to the hon. Gentleman's constituents to hold out false hopes by doing a lot of things which did not produce the desired result.

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that everything is being done that ought to be done and can reasonably be done. The Board assures us that it will push on with the installation as quickly as it can.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at six minutes to One o'clock