The National Survey of Air Pollution

Early in 1952, before the dramatic impact of the London 'smog' of that year, only 66 towns and 5 London boroughs all communities with a serious air pollution problem had enough interest in the subject to make daily pollution measurements, though monthly measurements were fairly common. The Beaver Report of 1954, which stressed the importance of fine airborne smoke and of sulphur dioxide, and the Clean Air Act of 1956 gave a great impetus to the study of short-term concentrations of these pollutants. By 1960 there were 213 towns and 28 London boroughs making daily smoke measurements, among which 204 authorities were also measuring sulphur dioxide. From as early as 1927 the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research had given technical advice and had received and published the results of daily and monthly observations under a voluntary scheme of co-operation embodied in a Standing Conference, but there had been no question of control or selection, so the distribution of sampling sites throughout the country was heavily biased towards industrialized towns and conurbations. By 1960 it was felt that