Households with chimneys face £300 fines in 27 cities in England | UK | News | EUROtoday

Households in 27 main cities in England threat fines of as much as £300 in the event that they use their chimney – and as much as £1,000 for utilizing unauthorised fuels.

They are nonetheless a well-liked option to warmth your own home and have seen one thing of a resurgence prior to now few years, particularly with rising electrical energy costs. People are starting to return to wooden burning stoves, open fires and fireplaces as a comfortable and conventional means of holding heat in winter regardless of the doable risks of indoor air pollution. It is feasible to make use of authorized smokeless fuels as a substitute, although, which received’t emit smoke out of your chimney, however in the event you use the incorrect gasoline and you reside in a Smoke Control Area, you might face a fantastic of as much as £1,000.

Smoke Control Areas are boundaries, agreed by native councils, which ban the discharge of smoke from chimneys for properties located inside them.

This doesn’t simply restrict the quantity of smoke you may produce from a chimney, however is a blanket ban stopping you from emitting any smoke out of your chimney in any respect.

Most main cities in England fall underneath a Defra Smoke Control Area, together with most of London, in addition to most of Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle and Liverpool.

Defra says in its steerage: “Open fires and wood-burning stoves have risen in popularity over recent years.

“Smoke from burning causes air pollution which harms the health of millions.

“We can work together to improve the quality of the air we breathe.

“Did you know that certain areas of the country are designated as ‘smoke control areas’?

“A smoke control area is a legally defined area where you cannot emit smoke from a chimney.

“You can be issued a financial penalty of between £175 to £300 if you break this rule.

“You must not buy an unauthorised fuel for use in a smoke control area unless it is to be used in an exempt appliance. You can be fined up to £1,000 if you break this rule.

“Defra exempted stoves include wood-burning and multi-fuel stoves. These have been rigorously tested and demonstrate low smoke emissions when used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and with the recommended fuel.”

Cities in England that are absolutely or partly lined by a Smoke Control Area embrace:

London (all of London, besides West Ham)

Birmingham

Manchester

Sheffield

Leeds

Liverpool

Newcastle

Wakefield

Nottingham

Derby

Bristol

Bath

Stoke-on-Trent

Bradford

Preston

Leicester

Norwich

Peterborough

Hull

Doncaster

Wolverhampton

Worcester

Coventry

Milton Keynes

Reading

Portsmouth

Brighton

But there are different areas together with cities and parishes which even have Smoke Control Areas in place, in addition to areas inside these cities which don’t.

To test in case your space is roofed, go to https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/sca/