Not horsey -burning in gardens

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dizzyf

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Sorry this is not a horsey question.
But what are the rules about buring garden waste in your back garden? You can buy incinerators from B&Q, so it's obviously not illegal???!!!
Had a run in with neighbours today!!
 
I think from what i can tell it depends more on what you burn- ie no plastics or rubber. Member of my family is having a hard time taking neighbour to court for burning poisonous stuff all the time.

I know a lot of people with those outdoor wood burners (which are FAB!) so don't think it's illegal to burn just wood etc.
 
Was buring some branches and things we'd cleared from the garden. I appreciate it did make a lot of smoke, but I cant help which way the wind blows (it was blowing everywhere!!) It's not as if we do it every weekend, it was only burning for half an hour, and I used a proper slow burn brazier!! After shouting at me over the fence, I saw her taking pics from her window ready to tell the council- what's the worst that could happen???
 
this does depend on what area you live in some i believe are no smoke areas, it is polite to inform you next doors so they can close windows and take in washing etc and although it isnt the law people tend to have bonfires after six pm.
 
Its not illegal to burn your own waste in your garden as long as it is basically only greenwaste/ naturally occuring plant matter and the smoke from it does not cause a statutory nuisance. If it only happens once in a while then usually its not a problem. If it happens a lot and it really impacts on your enjoyment of your property then normally these matters are dealt with by the local authority.

If the waste is not simply someones garden rubbish and is produced by some sort of business and being burnt on a regular basis - it is likely that this activity is illegal and you can report it to the Environment Agency.
 
I live in a built up area and contacted the local council after my neighbour burned plastics / tyres ect in their yard, in a smokeless zone! the council sent me a pack and said to record when there was burning, at what time and what was being burnt. Then i had to file a report after 12 weeks.
In a nutshell do not worry it takes to long and dont even bother to come out. It sounds at least like you were only burning organic waste.
Tell your neighbour to get a life, then set fire to their fence.... he he
Teresa
 
Teresa LOL!
It does take ages with all councils thoughwhether it's for noise pollution or air pollution etc, you have to log everything and the offender has often stopped by the time you send the report in anyway!
 
It does'nt allways take ages for the council to come out ,we had a bonfire two years ago and the bloke from the council was there pearing over the garden gate saying there had been a complaint and he could smell the smoke at the other end of the village , yeh cos there was at least five other bonfires going at the same time.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Was buring some branches and things we'd cleared from the garden. I appreciate it did make a lot of smoke, but I cant help which way the wind blows (it was blowing everywhere!!) It's not as if we do it every weekend, it was only burning for half an hour, and I used a proper slow burn brazier!! After shouting at me over the fence, I saw her taking pics from her window ready to tell the council- what's the worst that could happen???

[/ QUOTE ]

It would have been courteous to have waited for either a still day or for the wind to be blowing away from your neighbours' houses. As for what's the worst that can happen. Well you seem to have upset the neighbour pretty well. Now if that was me then the next time the wind was blowing in your direction and you had washing on the line or your windows open I'd be getting rid of some garden waste . . .
 
I believe that you only permitted to have bonefires at certain times of the day.

If the weather was as lovely with you as it was with us over the weekend, i'd have been cheesed off to for being prevented from sitting in my garden, due to the smoke.
 
I quite often burn garden rubbish, I have 100ft garden and do it at the far end. I have an incinerator and I always wait until it's just getting dark as I think it's polite to do so.
My neighbours are not so polite and burn all sorts of smoky rubbish right outside their (and my) backdoor. Makes me so mad!
 
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