Bonfires and air quality

Bonfire guidelines

While controlled garden bonfires are allowed, we ask that you're considerate of your neighbours.

Garden bonfires can cause a statutory nuisance (under the Environmental Protection Act 1990), and are often a significant source of air pollution.

They can worsen health conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Smoke can affect anyone with a lung condition and your fire or bonfire may worsen any symptoms.

Rather than burning waste, you could create a compost heap which returns valuable organic material back to the soil. You can also put garden and food waste in your brown bin.

If burning your garden waste is unavoidable, please ensure that you:

do not cause a nuisance to your neighbours
choose a less impactful time, for example in the evening
only burn dry garden waste
do not burn fresh, green plant material
do not burn any building material, plastic, tyres or general rubbish as this could release harmful toxins
never use old engine oil, methylated spirits or petrol to light the fire or encourage it
avoid lighting a fire in unsuitable weather conditions - smoke hangs in the air on damp, still days and in the evening. If it is windy, smoke may be blown into neighbour’s gardens and across roads
avoid bonfires when air pollution in your area is high or very high. This information is included in weather forecasts or on the UK Air quality archive
check unlit bonfires carefully for hedgehogs before lighting. Find out more from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

Action against bonfires

We can still take action on regular garden bonfires if the smoke can be classed as a statutory nuisance.

For this we'll investigate to find out:

the amount of smoke
how often it happens and for how long
how unreasonable the activity is.

Please contact Kent Police if the smoke is drifting across a road and endangering motorists.

Report smoke and air pollution from bonfires

If you think there's a problem with the air around your area - such as bonfire smoke - we encourage you to speak to the person or business creating the problem.

If this is unsuccessful, you can still report it to us. However, we currently have a reduced response capacity. 

In many cases you'll be offered advice and we'll try to solve the problem by initially writing to the source of the air pollution where possible. We're keeping the service under review and looking at ways in which we can continue to operate effectively while following public health advice on social distancing. 

We're unlikely to deal with a one-off situation in a formal way unless the nuisance is particularly significant or is affecting a large number of households.

Report smoke and air pollution