Smoke Control
If your local council is Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham or Sheffield - you are living in a Smoke Control Area (unless you are living in the rural northwest of Sheffield. Click on the map below to make sure).
Under the Clean Air Act, Smoke Control Areas are set up to give local authorities powers to control air quality in their legislative areas. South Yorkshire was gradually made smoke free in the 1960s and 1980s. Today, they are maintained to prevent the negative health effects caused by smoke from domestic as well as industrial chimneys.
Defra approves fuels and appliances which can be used in South Yorkshire, a process called fuel 'authorisation' and appliance 'exemption'. Lists of authorised fuels and exempt appliances can be found on the Defra website. Alongside traditional fossil fuels such as bituminous coals, wood is an unauthorised fuel for domestic burning. This is because the Clean Air Act aims to limit particulate emissions in order to protect air quality and public health.
Your local authority is responsible for enforcing smoke control legislation in South Yorkshire. Local authorities continually monitor air quality, undertake random spot-checks on local areas and respond to complaints from concerned neighbours. In our region it is illegal to burn solid fuels that release smoke from a chimney, unless the smoke is caused by the use of an 'authorised' fuel. Homeowners can be fined up to £1,000 per offence.
