We've found that our customers are often quite confused about what they can and can't burn on fires and in stoves locally, so we thought we'd give you a brief explanation!
Our area of South East London, along with most of the UK's large town and cities, is designated as "smoke control areas" which means that you are not allowed to produce smoke emissions from your home. These regulations were introduced after the thick smogs of the 1950s and 1960s. At the time, coal was widely used to heat family homes and this contributed to the smogs which were a serious health hazard. Controlling smoke emissions in urban areas made a real difference.
If you live in a smoke control area, you can only burn smokeless fuels (which means no wood and or normalcoal), unless you have a stove which has been declared "exempt" by Defra. At
Westcombes, we stock a wide range of woodburning stoves which have been approved by Defra for use in smoke control zones as they produce very low emissions and are efficient and eco-friendly. You can use coal on an open fire if it is an approved smokeless brand.
You can find more information about smoke control zones
here, with details of where they are as well as exactly what you can and cannot burn.
