North Thames Gas Board
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The North Thames Gas Board was an autonomous state-owned utility area
gas board The area gas boards were created under the provisions of the Gas Act 1948 enacted by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government. The Act nationalised the British gas industry and also created the Gas Council. History From the early 19th century ...
providing gas for light and heat to industries, commercial premises and homes in south-east England. The board's area of supply, encompassing , included parts of the
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,
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
,
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,
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,
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
and
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
.


History

The North Thames Gas Board was established on 1 May 1949 under the
Gas Act 1948 The Gas Act 1948 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 67) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or bought into state control, the gas making and supply industry in Great Britain. It established 12 area gas boards to own and op ...
which nationalised the gas industry. The board was responsible to the
Minister of Fuel and Power The Ministry of Power was a United Kingdom government ministry dealing with issues concerning energy. The Ministry of Power (then named Ministry of Fuel and Power) was created on 11 June 1942 from functions separated from the Board of Trade. ...
, later the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, for its operation and finances. The board was dissolved on 31 December 1972 when the North Thames area became a region of the
British Gas Corporation British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...
under the Gas Act 1972. Upon nationalisation the board took over twelve local authority and privately owned gas production and supply utilities: * Ascot District Gas and Electricity Company (only the gas operations were acquired: the electricity undertaking had become part of the Southern Electricity Board in 1948). * Chertsey Gas Consumers' Company Ltd. * Commercial Gas Company. *
Gas Light and Coke Company The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company that made and supplied coal gas and Coke (fuel), coke. The headquarters of the company were l ...
. * Hornsey Gas Company. * Lea Bridge District Gas Company. * North Middlesex Gas Company. * Romford Gas Company. * Slough Gas and Coke Company. *
Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...
County Borough Corporation. * Uxbridge, Maidenhead, Wycombe and District Gas Company. * Windsor Royal Gaslight Company. These organisations operated 26 gas-making stations ranging in capacity from the large Beckton Gas Works ( of gas per day) to the smallest at
Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, south-east of Aylesbury and north-east of High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. There ar ...
( of gas per day). The works had a total annual output capacity of of gas. The board inherited a total of 1,746,200 consumers and of gas distribution mains. The board proposed to extend its gas grid to all gas-making stations and to shutdown and decommission the smallest, oldest and most uneconomic stations. The board concentrated production on those sites on the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...
where coal could be delivered economically by its own fleet of colliers. As well as gas, coke was a significant by-product of the gas-making process and sales of coke accounted for a fifth to a quarter of total revenue. In addition the board sold a range of other gas-making by-products such as tar, pitch, benzole,
ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...
and other refined chemicals Although named North Thames, the gas board supplied gas to several areas south of the river Thames, including the Richmond, Morden, Chertsey, Ascot, Bracknell and Maidenhead areas. The North Thames Gas Board operated staff sports clubs, welfare and other leisure activities for employees, inherited from its predecessor the GLCC. Its sports ground, now derelict, is located on Leigh Road in
East Ham East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Essex, East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a ...
, next to the
North Circular Road The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London. It runs from Chiswick in the west to North Woolwich in the east via suburban north London, connecting var ...
, and is also the location of a (now disused) gasometer. At one time, it also operated a sports ground in Acton. NTGB initials can still be seen on service covers across London dating from the era of its operation.


Operations

Town gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...
had traditionally been produced by carbonising (roasting) coal. The majority of gas made by the North Thames Gas Board in 1949 still used this method. In addition
water gas Water gas is a kind of fuel gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It is produced by "alternately hot blowing a fuel layer okewith air and gasifying it with steam". The caloric yield of the fuel produced by this method is about 10% o ...
was produced by passing steam through white-hot coke. During the 1950s the price of coal, a major feed-stock for gas-making, rose considerably doubling from 64s.3''d''. (£3.21) per ton in 1950 to 123s.11''d''. (£6.20) per ton in 1959. The board had to increase its domestic gas price from 1s 4''d''. per therm in 1951 to 2s 1.85''d''. per therm in 1957, an increase of 62%. In contrast the domestic price for electricity rose by only 22% in the 1950s and domestic oil prices increased by only 12%. The board found it difficult to further penetrate the domestic and commercial space heating, central heating and other markets. The board instigated new more efficient and cost-effective processes for gas-making including a ‘Gas Integrale’ plant at Kensal Green in 1955, and a plant using low-grade coal at Bromley in 1960. The board also developed process for reforming oil to produce gas including plants at Southall and Romford and butane/air plants at Beckton, Bromley and Fulham. These new processes shifted the production of gas away from coal carbonisation to gas/oil reforming. The board was also instrumental in the pioneering import of
liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...
, which was first landed at a pilot plant built by North Thames Gas Board on
Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames Estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ...
in February 1959. The scheme was successful in supplying natural gas to other gas boards for use as a reformer feed-stock. The North Thames Gas Board, acting for the Gas Council, then designed and built a full-scale methane terminal on Canvey capable of processing 700,000 tons per year of natural gas from Algeria, commissioned in 1964. The national transportation and distribution pipeline from Canvey formed the backbone of the
National Transmission System The United Kingdom's National Transmission System (NTS) is the network of gas pipelines that supply gas to about forty power stations and large industrial users from natural gas terminals situated on the coast, and to gas distribution companies ...
for transporting North Sea gas after it was first landed in Yorkshire in 1967. The board was also responsible for the 1966 pilot scheme on Canvey to convert all domestic, commercial and industrial to natural gas. The conversion programme was extended across Britain over the period 1967–77. The technical transformation of gas manufacture and processing resulted in a significant reduction in the number of board employees, from about 25,000 in the 1950s to 8,000 in 1988. The financial turnover (in £ million) of the board between 1962 and 1971 was:North Thames Gas Board, Annual Report and Accounts 31 March 1972, London, HMSOIn 1967 the board experienced the worst deficit in its history (£3.35 million). The war in the Middle East resulted in the closure of the
Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...
, a 50 per cent increase in oil prices, and stoppage of gas import from Algeria. The board's revenue account was in deficit by £4.3 million and there was a drive to cut costs and improve efficiency. Central heating boilers and space heaters were promoted vigorously, and the arrival of natural gas enabled the board to offer attractive rates to industrial consumers. The growth in gas consumption and the number of customers over the period 1950-1971 is shown in the following tables. In 1972 with the programme of natural gas conversion 58% complete, the board operated only six gas works: Beckton, Bromley, Fulham, Romford, Slough and Southall, and 34 gas holders (gasometers). The total send-out of gas for the year was and the intake of natural gas was .


Organisation

Upon
nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...
the North Thames Gas Board's area was organised into the following districts and divisions: * Uxbridge District * Ascot District * Windsor District * Slough District * Chertsey District * Western Division * North Western Division * North Middlesex District * Hornsey District * Central Division * Northern Division * Commercial District * Lea Bridge District * Eastern Division * Romford District * Southend District The North Thames Gas Board headquarters was located at 30 Kensington Church Street, London from 1949 until 1977. In 1977 the then regional North Thames headquarters was relocated to London Road,
Staines-upon-Thames Staines-upon-Thames, also known simply as Staines, is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and River Colne, Hertfordshire, Colne. ...
, where the overall control room for the pipe network was located, with sub-control rooms located in
Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...
and
Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...
. The nine storey headquarters building, North Thames House, had originally been built for Ready Mixed Concrete for their headquarters but the company had been hit by the recession of the mid-1970s and sold the building. It has since been demolished. Section 9 of the Gas Act 1948 established consultative councils for each area board. They were charged with considering any matter affecting the supply of gas in the area; and of considering and reporting to the area board any such matter. Each council had between 20 and 30 members. Some members were appointed as representatives of local authorities and some as representatives of commerce, industry, labour and other interests. The North Thames Gas Consultative Council was based at 28 Charing Cross Road. It comprised a chairman, a deputy chairman, a secretary, 16 members representing local authorities, and 11 members representatives of commerce, industry, labour and other interests. The council met six times a year. There were four district committees which met quarterly: * Berkshire and Buckinghamshire District Committee * Central and North London District Committee * East London and Essex District Committee * West London and Surrey District Committee


Legislative change

The Gas Act 1972 created a single statutory authority the British Gas Corporation from 1 January 1973. The North Thames Gas Board ceased to exist and North Thames became a region of the British Gas Corporation. The
Gas Act 1986 The Gas Act 1986 (c. 44) created the framework for privatisation of the gas supply industry in Great Britain. The legislation replaced the British Gas Corporation State-owned enterprise, (government or state ownership) with British Gas plc Privat ...
privatised the British gas industry with the assets of the British Gas Corporation transferred to British Gas plc which started trading on 8 December 1986. North Thames Gas was restructured into eleven districts in 1986: * Slough * Staines * Harrow * Richmond * West London * Central * Mill Hill * Thames * Forest * Brentwood * Southend


Key people

The chairmen of the North Thames Gas Board/Region were: {, class="wikitable" !Name !Vital dates !Dates in Office , - , Sir Michael Milne-Watson , 1910-99 , 18 January 1949 – 30 April 1964 , - , Richard Stringer Johnson , 1907–81        , 1 May 1964 – 19 May 1970 , - , George Edward Cooper , 1915–2004            , 20 May 1970 – 31 March 1977 , - , John Gadd , 1925–94 , 1 April 1977 – 31 January 1988 , - , Arthur Allan Dove , 1933–2017  ,  1 February 1988  – 1991


References


External links

* The Gas (Allocation of Undertakings to Area Boards and Gas Council) Order, 1949 (1949 No. 742) Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Oil and gas companies of England 1949 establishments in England 1973 disestablishments in England