Energy & Climate
Peatland fires
Widespread fires tore through protected peatlands despite new ban, investigation reveals.
30 May 2022
Parent campaigners are warning that councils are failing to tackle air pollution from illegal wood burning.
FOI requests submitted by Mums for Lungs show that only four fines have been issued in a year and not a single prosecution has been pursued.
There were over 100 complaints every week (5,608 in 12 months) to local authorities in smoke control areas about wood burning, but this resulted in just a handful of fines – despite clear regulations around smoke control areas.
Even the most modern ‘Ecodesign’ stoves emit six times as much particulate pollution as an HGV truck on an hourly basis.
Wood smoke contains most of the same carcinogens as tobacco smoke, including benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Research shows that wood smoke is more toxic than cigarette smoke.
Using an indoor wood stove or fireplace increases women’s risk of developing lung cancer by 43% compared with those that do not use wood heating, according to a study from 2023.
Mums for Lungs’ Christmas advertising campaign – with the tagline ‘Don’t Choke Santa’ – warns about the risk of pollution from chimneys across the UK.
The adverts have been offered free of charge to the group on advertising sites owned by Lambeth Council.
‘If you open your door on a cold night in any town, city or village you can smell the wood pollution. You wouldn’t want a truck pumping air pollution into your front room, but ironically even modern wood stoves cause six times the fine particle pollution of an HGV.
‘We’ve known about the health impacts of wood burning for decades. We need to make sure councils are given the tools and resources to protect children from toxic pollution and not just talk about the risks. The current system is obviously not fit for purpose.’
JEMIMA HARTSHORN
Mums for Lungs
In Birmingham, there were 783 complaints made to the council but despite this, the council did not issue a single enforcement letter or carry out an inspection.
Manchester City Council had 213 complaints, but issued just seven warning letters, while Cheshire East had 141 complaints, but took no action whatsoever.
In contrast, Bromley Council in South East London issued 275 enforcement letters in response to the same number of complaints and carried out around 135 inspections in response to concerns from the public.
North Tyneside Council wrote 270 enforcement letters in the same period, the second highest in the country.
According to research commissioned by Global Action Plan in September 2024, 22% of the UK public now use an open fire and/or wood burning stove in their home.
These burners are most likely to be owned by those aged 18-34 (45%) and men (52%).
Burning behaviour is not distributed evenly across the country; 37% of Londoners surveyed said they use an open fire and/or a wood burning stove in their home, despite the capital being a smoke control area.
Only four councils out of the 159 that responded to the requests said they had issued a penalty notice for wood burning – they are Bolsover, Bristol, Horsham and Wakefield.
St Helen’s Council said they issued four abatement notices and Norwich City Council issued a single community protection warning.
The figures include complaints submitted about different forms of smoke pollution from domestic wood burning.
Domestic combustion is a major cause of toxic air pollution in the UK, and is the biggest source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
In 2024, government data showed that wood burning was responsible for 22% of particle pollution in the UK, compared to 18% from traffic.
According to government-reviewed evidence, these miniscule particles pose the greatest risk because they can be drawn deeper into the lungs, and even absorbed into the bloodstream.
This fine particle pollution is associated with a range of serious health conditions including heart disease, chronic bronchitis, reduced lung function and lung cancer.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has said that wood burning should be phased out.
‘Wood burning releases harmful PM2.5 particles, contributing significantly to both indoor and outdoor pollution. Many people are unaware of the severe health risks, especially for children whose developing lungs make them particularly vulnerable to all forms of air pollution. In our recent position statement, we called for phasing out domestic wood burning in urban areas to reduce air pollution. Taking steps such as this will not only protect child health, but also the health of the planet.’
DR ALICE WILLSON
RCPCH Clinical Fellow
According to Defra’s regulations, In England you may have to pay a penalty of up to £300 if your chimney releases smoke in a smoke control area.
You can be fined up to £1,000 if you buy unauthorised fuel to use in an appliance that’s not approved by DEFRA.
At the time, then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the new measures were part of his government’s drive to leave ‘the environment in a better state than we found it’.
Last year, Mums for Lungs uncovered that Defra was paying social media influencers to promote ‘better’ wood burning, while councils failed to pursue any of the promised prosecutions.
The influencers’ adverts suggest that using the right fuel, sweeping your chimney and servicing your stove are all you need to do to reduce emissions.
Yet even new stoves used in this way emit huge amounts of air pollution, with Ecodesign stoves emitting 450 times as much fine particle pollution (PM2.5) as a gas boiler.
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