After they issued just 17 fines in six years relating to smoke control rules, councils in England have now been told to consider using powers under the 2021 Environment Act to hand out-on-the spot civil penalties ranging between £175 and £300.

And in the worst cases, repeat offenders could be taken to criminal court and fined up to £5,000 – with an extra £2,500 coming for every day the breach carries on.

It comes after 18,000 complaints over smoke control were made in the same six-year period.

Wood burning can produce the PM2.5 particle, which is a harmful contributor to air pollution. Domestic burning has overtaken even traffic as a source of it.

Up to 38,000 people die prematurely in London each year thanks to polluted air.

While they are not uncommon in rural areas, sales grew amid inflated gas prices. In Q2 of 2022, sales were up 40% on the year prior, and 66% the quarter after, according to The Times.

The scope of the law focuses more on urban places, with the Government trying to reduce smoke emissions in control areas like London, Birmingham and Manchester, among other cities and towns.

The amount of smoke allowed per hour will drop from 5g to 3g.

Environment secretary Therese Coffey said: “I want an educational approach. We want people to do the right thing.”

She admitted some people will not be aware about their stove burner’s effect on the environment and said the Government does not intend to ban wood-burning stoves or open fires.

Ms Coffey hopes to cut PM2.5 pollution to no more than 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2040.

That is despite a recent report by Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, finding even stoves marketed as “eco-design” can release 450 times more air pollution than gas boilers.

Professor Frank Kelly, a health policy expert at Imperial College London, questioned if financially stretched councils could spare the manpower to enforce the law.

Picture credit: Alamy