Camden publishes smoke control area proposal
Since 2000, Camden has been designated a ‘smoke control area’, which prohibits the emitting of smoke from buildings.
Our ambitious Clean Air Action Plan 2023-2026 and the longer-term Camden Clean Air Strategy 2019-2034 sets out to reduce emissions from buildings, including from wood burning and commercial cooking. Reducing the emission of smoke from chimneys in Camden is central to this work.
In a smoke control area, you are only allowed to burn certain authorised fuels unless using an appliance exempted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and it is an offence to emit smoke from a chimney.
Almost nowhere in London requires wood burning or open fires for home heating, and in Camden all homes can be connected to mains electricity, the gas network, or both.
Camden has published a proposal to revoke the borough’s current smoke control order and replace it with an updated order that covers the whole of the borough including the waterways.
This will mean that the rules will now apply to canal boats as well as buildings across the borough. Residents already in a smoke control area would continue to be in one if the order is agreed.
Councillor Harrison continued:
“We want no one in the borough to experience poor health because of the air they breathe. We were the first local authority to adopt the World Health Organization air quality guidelines and have set an ambitious target of achieving these limits borough-wide no later than 2034.
“The development of modern wood burning stoves, and the marketing of wood burning as an ‘eco-friendly’ heating source are leading to an increase in the popularity of solid fuel heating.
“All forms of solid fuel heating, including the use of modern appliances, produces air pollution that can damage our health. The increase in air pollution from wood burning represents a growing risk to public health, and despite this source of air pollution deriving from a small proportion of households, its health impact is distributed across Camden and London.
“We would like to ask residents, businesses, and anyone with an interest in Camden to view our proposal, with an opportunity to raise any objections to the proposal by Thursday 20 March.”
The Clean Air Act was amended by the Environment Act 2021 to allow councils to bring inland waterways within scope of the Smoke Control Area rules. Chimney smoke from canal boats makes up a small contribution to the overall emissions in Camden but represents a serious health risk for the boating community and for people living and working alongside the Regent’s Canal.
Copies of the proposed order and accompanying plan can be found on our website or upon request via email at: AirQuality@camden.gov.uk
Copies are also available for inspection at the Town Hall, Judd Street, London WC1H 9JE and at all Council libraries during normal opening hours until Thursday 20 March 2025.
You can respond online, by email: AirQuality@camden.gov.uk or by post: Air Quality, Sustainability, Air Quality and Energy, London Borough of Camden, 5th Floor 5 Pancras Square N1C 4AG