Are garden bonfires allowed?

Can I have a bonfire in my garden?

The rules focus on the effect of your fire, not the fire itself. You can be in trouble if it:

• burns household waste in a way that causes pollution or harms people's health
• lets smoke drift across a road and become a danger to traffic
• becomes a "statutory nuisance" to your neighbours (see below)

You are allowed garden bonfires in a smoke control area too, but you still have to follow these rules. Smoke control areas mainly cover smoke from chimneys.

What counts as a statutory nuisance

A statutory nuisance is something the law says the council must deal with. Smoke can be one if it:

• unreasonably and substantially interferes with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premises, or
• injures health, or is likely to

The council's environmental health officers look at:

• how much smoke there is
• how often it happens and for how long
• how unreasonable the activity is

So how often fires happen, and for how long, matters as well as how smoky they are. Smoke from an everyday activity like cooking is unlikely to count.

If you do burn garden waste

• Never burn household waste in a way that causes pollution or harms health.
• Watch where the smoke goes, so it does not drift across a road or into neighbours' homes.
• Composting or a council garden waste collection avoids the risk altogether.

If a neighbour's bonfire is a problem

1. Talk to your neighbour first, if you feel safe doing so. They may not know the smoke is bothering you.
2. Keep a record. Note dates, times, how long the fire lasted and how it affected you.
3. Complain to your council. The council must investigate complaints about smoke that could be a statutory nuisance.
4. The council decides. If it agrees there is a statutory nuisance, it must serve an abatement notice.

What an abatement notice means

An abatement notice can tell the person to stop the activity, or limit it to certain times. It can also list things they must do to reduce the problem.

• The person has 21 days to appeal to a magistrates' court.
• If they ignore the notice, a court can fine them a lump sum, plus further fines for each day they do not comply. The court sets the amounts.
• The council can also do the work itself and recover the cost, or ask the High Court for an injunction.

Other ways to get rid of garden waste

• Compost it at home.
• Use your council's garden waste collection. In England and Wales some councils charge a small fee.
• Check what your council collects for recycling.

If you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland

This guide is based on GOV.UK guidance. The detailed GOV.UK guidance on how councils deal with statutory nuisances is for England only, and the garden waste collection service finder covers England and Wales. Rules elsewhere may differ, so in Scotland and Northern Ireland contact your local council's environmental health team about smoke problems.

Related guides

• How do I sort out a dispute with my neighbour?
• How do I make a noise complaint to the council?
• What are the rules on fireworks?
• How do I report antisocial behaviour?

Where this comes from

• Garden bonfires: the rules
• Nuisance smoke: how councils deal with complaints
• Statutory nuisances: how councils deal with complaints
• Smoke control areas: the rules
• Garden waste disposal