The Secretary of State may cause F2an inquiry to be held in any case in which he considers it appropriate for F3 an inquiryto be held either in connection with a provision of this Act or with a view to preventing or dealing with air pollution at any place.

Subsections (2) to (5) of section 250 of the M1Local Government Act 1972 (which contains supplementary provisions with respect to local inquiries held in pursuance of that section) shall, without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of that section, apply to inquiries in England and Wales in pursuance of subsection (1) as they apply to inquiries in pursuance of that section.

Subsections (2) to (8) of section 210 of the M2Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (local inquiries) shall, without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of that section, apply to inquiries in Scotland in pursuance of subsection (1) as they apply to inquiries held in pursuance of that section.