Lewisham cannot prove a valid borough-wide smoke control order exists, so wood burner rules cannot be enforced. A new order, covering boats too, is coming.

Lewisham Council cannot show that a valid smoke control area covers the borough, and cannot enforce the rules on wood burners and smoky fuels until that is fixed. That is the council’s own admission, in a report that went to Mayor and Cabinet on Wednesday 9 September (Smoke Control Area: Whole Borough Designation).

Smoke control areas are the legal mechanism, under the Clean Air Act 1993, that bans smoke from chimneys unless you burn authorised fuel or use an exempt appliance. The report says the absence of a valid order “creates uncertainty for residents, businesses and other stakeholders” about which rules actually apply in the borough.

The report says otherwise. In 2010 the council tried to replace its patchwork of historic street-by-street orders, some made by the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Deptford and Lewisham between 1959 and 1966, with a single borough-wide order. A 2025 review by officers found evidence that the 2010 consultation happened, but none that the legal steps needed to bring the order into force were ever completed. The council “cannot therefore demonstrate that a valid borough-wide Smoke Control Order is in force”.

What that means in practice

  • Officers can still advise, educate and give guidance on smoke, authorised fuels and exempt appliances. What the council cannot currently do is rely on smoke control area powers to enforce.
  • The historic orders are assumed to still stand, but the original paperwork “is no longer available”, which the report says leaves any enforcement vulnerable to legal challenge.
  • Complaints to the council’s Environmental Protection Team about unauthorised fuels are described as “fairly small but not insignificant” in number each year.

The fix, and how long it will take

The Mayor was asked to approve starting the statutory process: first revoking every existing order, then declaring one new smoke control area covering the whole borough. The steps are set by law and they are slow (Appendix A):

  • notices in the London Gazette and local papers for two consecutive weeks
  • at least six weeks for public objections
  • confirmation of the revocation by the Secretary of State, which then cannot take effect for at least six months
  • the new order must also carry a start date at least six months after it is made

Two details are new. The replacement order will, for the first time, cover moored boats, bringing vessels on the borough’s waterways within the rules. Owners with permanent moorings inside a smoke control area that covers vessels can apply to the council for reimbursement of 70% of the cost of upgrading a solid fuel appliance to a compliant one, a scheme funded by Defra. And since the Environment Act 2021, breaching smoke control rules is a civil matter rather than a criminal offence.

The council’s costs are modest: the work is covered by a £12,637 Defra grant for 2026/27.

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes today. If you have a wood burner, the practical advice stands: burn dry, authorised fuel in an exempt appliance. The council’s position is that the rules should apply; what it lacks, for now, is the power to enforce them.
  • When the new order is made there will be a formal objection window, advertised in the local press, before anything takes effect. Given the statutory timescales in the report, a new enforceable borough-wide area is realistically more than a year away.
  • Boat owners on Deptford Creek and the borough’s waterways will come under smoke control rules for the first time, with a 70% grant towards compliant appliances for permanent moorings.

Update, 15 September: the council’s printed decisions from the 9 September meeting confirm the recommendations were approved as set out: the statutory process starts to revoke the old ward-by-ward orders and declare a single borough-wide Smoke Control Order that also covers smoke from moored vessels.

Sources