The Alkali Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 124) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Under the act, an alkali inspector and four sub-inspectors were appointed to curb discharge into the air of muriatic acid gas (gaseous hydrochloric acid) from Leblanc alkali works. It was later extended to cover other industrial pollutants.
Section 19 provided that the act was to continue in force until 1 July 1868, and no longer. This section was repealed by section 1 of 31 & 32 Vict. c. 36, which enacted that the Alkali Act 1863 was "continued without any such limitation".
Subsequent developments
Alkali Act 1868
The act 31 & 32 Vict. c. 36, sometimes called the Alkali Act 1868, the Alkali Act Perpetuation Act 1868, or the Alkali Act (1863) Perpetuation Act 1868, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made perpetual the Alkali Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 124). The bill for this act was originally called the Alkali Act Continuance Bill and was subsequently called the Alkali Act (1863) Perpetuation Bill. The act 31 & 32 Vict. c. 36 was repealed by section 30 of the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 37), which further provided that this repeal was "without prejudice to anything done or suffered before the commencement of this Act, or to the recovery of any penalty incurred before or proceeding pending at the commencement of this Act; and any such penalty or proceeding may be recovered or continued as if this Act had not been passed."
Alkali Act 1874
In 1874, under the Alkali Act 1874 (37 & 38 Vict. c. 43), sometimes called the Alkali Act (1863) Amendment Act 1874, the Inspector became the Chief Inspector. The first Chief Inspector was Dr Robert Angus Smith, he was statutorily responsible for the standards set and maintained by the Inspectorate, and reported directly to the Permanent Secretary of his department. For the first sixty years of its existence, the inspectorate was solely concerned with the heavy chemicals industry, but from the 1920s onwards, its responsibilities were expanded, culminating in the Alkali. &c. Works Order 1958 (SI 1958/497). This placed all major heavy industries which emitted smoke, grit, dust and fumes under the supervision of the Inspectorate.
Timeline
The Inspectorate has worked under the purview of many different departments:
The Chief Inspector's independence disappeared when the Inspectorate was transferred to the Health and Safety Executive in 1975.
The Inspectorate was known as Industrial Air Pollution Inspectorate from 1983 to 1987 and became Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) when it was transferred back to the Department of the Environment in 1987.
HMIP became part of the Environment Agency and Scottish Environment Protection Agency on 1 April 1996.
Together with amendments, the Alkali Act became the main legislative control of industrial pollution in the UK.
Subsequent developments
The whole act was repealed by section 20 of the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 37), which came into force on 1 January 1882. The 1881 act was amended by the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 30), and subsequent repealed by the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1906 (6 Edw. 7. c. 14).
The Alkali Acts were finally replaced by the Environmental Protection Act 1990.