Background

Breathing in polluted air affects our health and costs the NHS and our society billions of pounds each year. Air pollution is recognised as a contributing factor in the onset of heart disease and cancer and can cause a range of health impacts, including effects on lung function, exacerbation of asthma, increases in hospital admissions and mortality. In the UK, it is estimated that the reduction in healthy life expectancy caused by air pollution is equivalent to 29,000 to 43,000 deaths a year. Chimney smoke contains fine particulate matter, which when breathed in can irritate and corrode the lungs.

Cannock Chase Council is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of the local community - one of the ways that we achieve this is to improve local air quality.

Legislation: Smoke Control Orders

The Clean Air Act 1993, as amended by the Environment Act 2021, gives Cannock Council the power to make smoke control orders. A smoke control order applies to a defined area (a smoke control area).

Between 1988 and 1998, Cannock Chase Council made fifteen smoke control orders, covering the entire district between them. On 1 September 2024, these will be replaced with a single smoke control order; the only practical change to the existing arrangements is that restrictions on the emission of chimney smoke will also apply to moored vessels (i.e narrowboats on the Trent and Mersey Canal and the Cannock Extension Canal). A copy of the new smoke control order can be downloaded here [2.5 Mb].

The smoke control order:

• Restricts the emission of smoke from chimneys attached to a building. These restrictions do not apply to garden bonfires or chimineas, nor do they usually apply to garden appliances like pizza ovens/barbeques (unless they are integrated into a building, as with some elaborate designs); a building is defined as having walls and a roof and includes garden sheds.
• Restricts the use of solid fuel in fireplaces to authorised (smokeless) fuels. DEFRA has produced a list of approved appliances, on which you can use other types of fuel (usually wood). You are not allowed to use treated wood (which includes things like pallets, garden fence panels and chipboard, as these are either painted or treated with preservatives or fungicide) in any fireplace or stove.
   

Consultation

This Consultation Closed on 31st March 2023.

A copy of the draft smoke control order can be viewed here. If you have any questions or would like a paper copy please call 01543 462621.

Contact Environmental Health

Telephone 01543 462621 or email environmentalhealth@cannockchasedc.gov.uk.