Smoke control areas have existed in the United Kingdom since the Clean Air Act 1956, but what are they?
A smoke control area is an area where smoke is not allowed to be emitted from a chimney. There are also rules about what can and cannot be burned in indoor appliances in these areas. A smoke control area can be created by a local authority by making a ‘Smoke Control Order’. A Smoke Control Order describes the geographical extent of the smoke control area and whether there are any exceptions or exemptions from the rules. They can be made to apply the smoke control area rules to all buildings and moored vessels, though this is not always the case. Your council will be able to tell you the location of smoke control areas in your local area, and there is a useful map on the UK AIR website too showing smoke control areas across the country.
This winter, alongside our popular awareness campaign, we have been developing and distributing information for households on both the health harms of solid fuel burning, and the rules around solid fuel burning in a smoke control area. In our last survey 68% of respondents said that they had not seen information about solid fuel burning and air pollution in their borough, and we have developed a new leaflet to help address this.
In the leaflet, shown below, we cover:
- The smoke control area rules including information about authorised fuels and Defra-exempt appliances
- The typical emission levels from different solid fuel burning appliances
- The health harms of the pollution from solid fuel burning
We designed these leaflets to complement our awareness campaign about the health harms of solid fuel burning, which has seen our important health-protection message appearing on media including bus advertising, digital advertising and social media, and on the radio.
These leaflets are being used across the 20 London Wood Burning Project member boroughs to inform residents of the rules around burning solid fuels in a smoke control area. Look out for them at community events or even in your mailbox. If you would like some leaflets for local engagement please request them via the contact form.
