Location of designated Smoke Control Areas within Sandwell Metropolitan Borough. The Clean Air Act 1993 consolidated two earlier acts which gave Local Authorities the power to control emissions of dark smoke, grit, dust and fumes from industrial premises and furnaces and to declare "smoke control areas" where emissions of smoke from domestic properties are banned. Under the Clean Air Act local authorities may declare the whole or parts of the district as a smoke control area in order to protect human health. Where smoke control areas exist, the authorised use of designated smokeless fuels or exempt applicances is applicable. Sandwell MBC has designated 54 individual Smoke Control Areas.