Brighton and Hove City Council is planning a crackdown in smoke control areas as wood-burners become more popular although they may not be the main cause of complaints.
People were warned that even the most eco-friendly wood-burning stove would emit six times as many harmful airborne particles every hour as some types of lorry.
A report to the council’s Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee said that most complaints about smoke over the past five years related to bonfires or static diesel generators.
Out of just over 500 complaints, only 12 related to “smoke from a domestic chimney”.
The committee backed a programme to raise awareness in the hope of reducing the number of people burning solid fuels in their homes.
And members of the committee shared their concerns that people with wood-burning stoves were unaware of the potential health risks.
When the committee met at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Tuesday 1 October), members were told that more enforcement could be expected in the existing smoke control areas.
And officials were setting up a real-time air quality monitoring network across Brighton and Hove which was due to go live this month.
The council’s interim head of safer communities, Jim Whitelegg, told members that the council was raising awareness using information provided by the government while also looking at what other councils had done, including Bristol.
Mr Whitelegg said: “What we hope is that it will raise awareness and people will get in touch with us if they have issues around smoke control
“We’ll receive more inquiries and complaints and we can target that enforcement appropriately as well as using the additional data that has been put in place for monitoring.”
Community and voluntary sector representative Mark Strong said that toxins were entering the atmosphere even when approved logs were used in wood-burning stoves.
Mr Strong said: “These still produce high levels of toxic emissions within the home. They’re higher than recommended – even the ones people think are safe.
“One of the issues is people think they are not emitting smoke, they’re not breaking those rules, but they are still at risk from a health point of view.”
Labour councillor Tim Rowkins, the council’s cabinet member for the environment and net zero, said that wood-burners affected public health and there would be more focus on enforcement in the existing smoke control areas.
Five smoke control areas cover a continuous stretch from Brighton seafront up to Bevendean, taking in the Seven Dials, the North Laine, Preston Circus, Hanover and Queen’s Park.
The smoke control areas also cover Kingscliff, Round Hill and up Lewes Road and Upper Lewes Road, including the Bear Road area, formerly home to Bevendean Hospital which catered for patients with respiratory conditions.
Councillor Rowkins said that the council had not had a history of enforcing the smoke control areas and the focus would now be to make them meaningful.
A report to the committee said: “The council has a range of enforcement options, potentially including fixed penalty notices, abatement notices and prosecution.
“However, there is a hierarchy of enforcement and the first step, unless immediate action is necessary and proportionate, will be to provide advice and then a warning to businesses or residents.
“To date, fixed penalty notices have not been served or further enforcement measures taken as in the majority of cases there can be an informal resolution by advice and negotiation.”
Councillor Rowkins said: “Even compliant appliances burning solid fuel still release pollutants and particulate pollution.
“The message here is it’s best not to burn, whether or not you’re in a smoke control area, no matter what your appliance is, so hopefully that message will sink in across the city.”
Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Bridget Fishleigh said that a developer had wanted to include wood-burning stoves in Allingham Place, a new estate in Rottingdean, but the proposal was rejected.
Councillor Fishleigh said: “In our West Saltdean neighbourhood plan, we’ve put a policy in it, associated with planning for new-build homes with coal or wood fireplaces. They would be rejected. Maybe we’ll be the first area to have that.”
Conservative councillor Ivan Lyons raised concerns about rogue log sellers because the report to the committee said that there were “no identified dedicated wood or solid fuel sellers” in Brighton and Hove.
Councillor Lyons said: “At this time of year, we do see rogue announcements on roundabouts just outside Brighton for wood logs, etc.
“They have been reported last year but, in my experience, these signs stay up for weeks and weeks. I get responses from relevant officers saying they are either too high or they will be removed. As soon as these rogue signs go up, they should be taken down swiftly.”
Labour councillor Amanda Evans, who chairs the committee, agreed, saying: “I would have thought those kind of informal signs would be much more likely to be selling dodgy elm which would not be suitable.”
The report said: “Sales of log wood for fires and stoves in residential properties continue to present a significant risk in terms of the spread and impacts of elm disease to a large proportion of the council’s tree stock.
