"Kathy" wrote in message
...
"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"harryagain" wrote in message
...

"Christina Websell" wrote in
message ...

rbel wrote in message
...
On Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:24:48 +0100, rufus rufus.nomailplease wrote:

Given concern about pollution, recycling, energy conservation, etc I
wondered how widely local authorities in UK have banned the burning of
garden rubbish? Locally, I have seen tobacco smokers being driven
back
into their workplaces by clouds of smoke from garden bonfires!

There is no national legislation that bans garden bonfires. Some LAs
may have bylaws controlling them but I am not aware of specific cases
- try your LA web site.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Highways (Amendment) Act
1986 can be used to control problems resulting from bonfires such as
persistent [1] nuisance to neighbours and dense smoke causing hazard
for traffic.

[1] A typical bonfire once or twice a year is unlikely to be
considered a persistent or statutory nuisance, particularly if thought
is given to the timing of the burn and wind direction.


I would say it depends on the size of your garden and the proximity of
your neighbours. If you have a fairly small garden with close
neighbours it will certainly annoy them if you light one up too often.
Luckily, although my garden is narrow it is 156 yards long so I can
burn away to my heart's content half way down and no-one notices.
My council offer a brown bin for £26/year for disposing of garden
waste, emptied once a fortnight.
I could fill it easily in a few days at this time of year.

I do compost, but the woody cuttings, I allow to dry on top of the
compost heap and then I have a bonfire.

Tina


What you want is a shredder. Big stuff goes in the woodstore for the
stove in the house.
Small stuff goes through the shredder and is composted or used as mulch
under shrubs etc.
Never need to light a fire.

I do have a shredder but there is a limit to the amount of mulch I can
use.


And not everyone has a stove to burn the big stuff.

--
I do have a woodburner. I just find it necessary to have a bonfire
occasionally which as I explained is so far from houses it's no trouble to
anyone.

On 03/08/2011 17:30, 'Mike' wrote:
"Jake"Nospam@invalid wrote in message
...
On Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:21:21 +0100,
wrote:

We live in the country opposite a roofing contractor who burns his
waste, as you can imagine the roof lining issues black smoke and smells
awful. Contacted the environmental agencies, all they did was to ensure
that he had a licence for transporting it (income you see). As regards
the rest they said to keep a diary and contact them next time he did it.
As you can guess he only does it on Bank holidays and Sundays, so no
reply from the council!

Is this roofer's property industrial or residential (i.e is he burning
commercial waste in the garden of his home)? Use of private premises
for commercial purposes may breach planning consents.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 places a duty of care on every
business to make sure that all waste produced is disposed of in a
suitable manner. Burning of waste is not considered as appropriate and
anyone found disposing of waste in breach of their duty of care
responsibilities risks being prosecuted and fined on conviction.

The Clean Air Act 1993 makes it an offence to burn anything on an
industrial or trade premises that gives rise to dark smoke. This would
include plastic, insulating materials (e.g. foam), tyres and
treated/painted wood. Offences made under this legislation incur a
maximum penalty of £20,000 for each offence.

Anyone lighting a fire and allowing it to drift across a highway may
be committing an offence under the Highways (Amendment) Act 1986.
Potential fine for this is £2,000.

Do you have other neighbours who could join in a complaint? It may
also be helpful to take photos of the smoke from the next bonfire. If
you can't contact the Council on bank holidays/Sundays, get the home
number(s) of your local councillor(s) and phone them each and every
time. If National Government agencies are unhelpful, write to your MP.

Cheers
Jake
==============================================
Gardening at the dry end (east) of Swansea Bay
in between reading anything by JRR Tolkien.

www.rivendell.org.uk

""Bull"" and ""China Shop"" are not in your vocab are they?

You must live in a field with no neighbours. Lucky you ;-(

He is right though. Photographic evidence will work even if the council
cannot be bothered to turn out and visit the site in a timely manner.

Contemporaneous photographic evidence, with a copy of todays newspaper
front page in shot is one effective way to tackle bad industrial
neighbours who are habitually burning seriously bad stuff with black
smoke on Bank Holidays and Sundays. ISTR the Clean Air Act was the one
that got neighbours some compensation in a case ages ago.

Otherwise out of sight out of mind is the councils attitude.

Regards,
Martin Brown

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"harryagain" wrote in message
...

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

rbel wrote in message
...
On Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:24:48 +0100, rufus rufus.nomailplease wrote:



I would say it depends on the size of your garden and the proximity of
your neighbours. If you have a fairly small garden with close
neighbours it will certainly annoy them if you light one up too often.
Luckily, although my garden is narrow it is 156 yards long so I can burn
away to my heart's content half way down and no-one notices.
My council offer a brown bin for £26/year for disposing of garden waste,
emptied once a fortnight.
I could fill it easily in a few days at this time of year.

I do compost, but the woody cuttings, I allow to dry on top of the
compost heap and then I have a bonfire.

Tina


What you want is a shredder. Big stuff goes in the woodstore for the
stove in the house.
Small stuff goes through the shredder and is composted or used as mulch
under shrubs etc.
Never need to light a fire.

I do have a shredder but there is a limit to the amount of mulch I can
use.


Gosh, We use all we can get and have to import neighbours hedges etc for
shredding to bulk up what we have, this is not a small garden and we produce
a lot of stuff for shedding each year but its never enough once we start
using it. We haven't had a bonfire in many years but I do miss it!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On 04/08/2011 10:06, Martin wrote:
On Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:15:55 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 03/08/2011 17:30, 'Mike' wrote:
"Jake"Nospam@invalid wrote in message
...
On Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:21:21 +0100,
wrote:

We live in the country opposite a roofing contractor who burns his
waste, as you can imagine the roof lining issues black smoke and smells
awful. Contacted the environmental agencies, all they did was to ensure
that he had a licence for transporting it (income you see). As regards
the rest they said to keep a diary and contact them next time he did it.
As you can guess he only does it on Bank holidays and Sundays, so no
reply from the council!

Is this roofer's property industrial or residential (i.e is he burning
commercial waste in the garden of his home)? Use of private premises
for commercial purposes may breach planning consents.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 places a duty of care on every
business to make sure that all waste produced is disposed of in a
suitable manner. Burning of waste is not considered as appropriate and
anyone found disposing of waste in breach of their duty of care
responsibilities risks being prosecuted and fined on conviction.

The Clean Air Act 1993 makes it an offence to burn anything on an
industrial or trade premises that gives rise to dark smoke. This would
include plastic, insulating materials (e.g. foam), tyres and
treated/painted wood. Offences made under this legislation incur a
maximum penalty of £20,000 for each offence.

Anyone lighting a fire and allowing it to drift across a highway may
be committing an offence under the Highways (Amendment) Act 1986.
Potential fine for this is £2,000.

Do you have other neighbours who could join in a complaint? It may
also be helpful to take photos of the smoke from the next bonfire. If
you can't contact the Council on bank holidays/Sundays, get the home
number(s) of your local councillor(s) and phone them each and every
time. If National Government agencies are unhelpful, write to your MP.

Cheers
Jake
==============================================
Gardening at the dry end (east) of Swansea Bay
in between reading anything by JRR Tolkien.

www.rivendell.org.uk

""Bull"" and ""China Shop"" are not in your vocab are they?

You must live in a field with no neighbours. Lucky you ;-(

He is right though. Photographic evidence will work even if the council
cannot be bothered to turn out and visit the site in a timely manner.

Contemporaneous photographic evidence, with a copy of todays newspaper
front page in shot is one effective way

How can you prove it was "todays paper" when the photo was taken?

You can't, but it does prove that the date when the picture was taken is
at least after the publication date of the newspaper. This can be
important in some circumstances. I don't know how courts handle the
relatively easy manipulation of faked digital images these days.

It helps get around the "oh yes we did have a problem way back, but it
has all been fixed now" type of defence claim.

My experience of it is very distant now. I did once know someone who had
a small decorating firm next door that regularly (most weekends) set
fire to polystyrene, solvents, foam and waste wallpaper producing huge
volumes of black smoke that drifted across neighbouring gardens and
houses. Nothing was done about it until photographic evidence was
produced (ISTR in a private prosecution for nuisance).

Regards,
Martin Brown

In article , rufus
writes
More important: we do ban coal smoke and tobacco smoke, so is wood and
leaf smoke all that different? Do we know whether it has similar
carcinogenic tars or not?


Shame about bonfire night then as I assume the bonfires for that are bad
as well? I have stuff that should be brunt like ground elder and
bindweed. No good putting that in council tip! Also dry twigs and
branches with coral spot etc.

Can't see why a good bonfire once in a while is that dangerous.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

"chris French" wrote in message
...
In message , Kathy



And not everyone has a stove to burn the big stuff.


But it can probably be given away to someone who does

To be quite honest, I don't know anyone with a stove/open fire apart from my
ex. and he's the other side of the country.
Actually, apart from the buddleia, I don't have big stuff - just lots and
lots of weeds. Most of these are on the lottie, and what can't be composted
can be burnt there.

--
Kathy