If you are concerned about smoke from a building or smoke causing poor visibility on a highway, contact the Fire Service and Police.
Burning waste on commercial premises is usually an offence, with the exception of certain specific materials. Commercial premises burning controlled waste is a waste management offence. To report an incident of trade waste being burned contact the Environment Agency.
There is no law which prohibits garden bonfires or specifies times of day fires can be lit, however in built up areas it can be difficult to have a bonfire without causing a nuisance. The council provides a service for collecting garden waste; therefore it is usually not necessary to have a bonfire. If you are planning on having a garden bonfire, ensure they are kept to a minimum and only burn dry materials such as wood and green waste.
The Environment Agency have information on garden bonfires.
We can investigate incidents where smoke from one premises directly affects another person in their premises please contact info@preston.gov.uk or 01772 906907
It is an offence to burn waste, such as rubber and painted/treated wood, which create dark smoke emissions. We will investigate incidents of dark smoke from burning waste.
If you would like to make a complaint, contact info@preston.gov.uk on 01772 906907.
In order to improve local air quality certain areas of Preston have been designated Smoke Control Areas (SCA). This means it is an offence to burn any fuel in a fireplace unless it is a special smokeless fuel or the fireplace is specifically exempted by law. For information about smokeless fuels and exempted fireplaces visit www.uksmokecontrolareas.co.uk. New properties built within Smoke Control Areas are also covered by this legal requirement.
To establish whether your property is located in Preston's smoke control area (SCA), please view the downloadable map.
If you are not in a SCA it is strongly advised you use smokeless fuels in order to minimise emissions of smoke which may cause a nuisance to neighbouring premises.
It is an offence for dark smoke to be emitted from any chimney serving a furnace or boiler on trade or industrial premises. Dark smoke is usually caused by burning treated timber, plastics or rubber. Materials likely to give rise to dark smoke should be disposed of in an alternative way. The Clean Air Acts do not apply to certain listed activities which are regulated under different legislation for more information view our Pollution Control page.
Approval for chimney heights applies only to commercial premises operating certain types of furnaces and boilers. For more information please download Factsheet 36.
To apply for chimney height approval, download and complete the Chimney Height Approval Form.
If you require help with something in this section, please contact us.
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