Smoke caused by bonfires may be a considered to be a statutory nuisance, and people causing a serious problem may be fined up to £5,000. 

Smoke can potentially contain gases and particles which can affect the health of children and people with asthma, bronchitis or heart problems. 

If you are affected by a neighbour’s bonfire, we suggest that you have a friendly and informal conversation with them as they may not be aware they are causing a nuisance. You may wish to use our Dear neighbour cards.

If the Dear neighbour card approach is not successful, please use the following steps depending upon whether your neighbour is a council tenant or private resident:

• council tenants cannot have bonfires on the property, under the terms of their tenancy agreement. If you are aware of a council tenant having a bonfire, contact the relevant housing officer
• for private residents, you can report nuisance bonfires on the form below

• Compost 
• Recycle
• Garden waste collections
• Household Waste Recycling Site
• Special Collections (unwanted furniture and household appliances)

• never burn household rubbish, plastic, rubber, furniture foam or tarred felt
• do not light a bonfire if it is wet or windy
• never leave a bonfire unsupervised or leave it to smoulder
• avoid burning at weekends and on Bank Holidays, when neighbours want to be outside 
• only burn dry material as this will minimise the amount of smoke produced