Oxford City Council is looking to expand its longstanding Smoke Control Areas to cover the whole city.
Smoke Control Areas stop people burning high-polluting fuels to protect the public from microscopic particles, which can get into lungs and cause serious health conditions.
Oxford has 23 Smoke Control Areas in place, covering about 48% of the city. The areas were introduced from 1958 – six years after the Great Smog of London, which covered the capital for five days and resulted in some 12,000 deaths.
The new proposals will see the patchwork of Smoke Control Areas replaced with a single Smoke Control Area covering the whole of Oxford.
The City Council is aiming to consult on the proposals later this year.
Last year, the City Council launched a campaign – called ‘Do You Fuel Good?’ – in partnership with Oxford Friends of the Earth and the Canal & River Trust to tackle the health and environmental harms from wood burning at home.
Smoke Control Areas
Smoke Control Areas aim to reduce the smoke that can be released from domestic and commercial chimneys, thereby reducing the amount of air pollutants emitted to the air.
To comply with a Smoke Control Area in England, residents and businesses should use an approved appliance or an authorised fuel type.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) lists approved appliances – including boilers, cookers and stoves – on its website. Any type of fuel can be used in these appliances.
Residents who cannot use an approved appliance must use an authorised fuel type. DEFRA lists authorised fuels on its website.
If the City Council witnesses smoke from the chimney of a domestic or commercial building, it can issue fines of between £175 and £300.
Those found to be selling or buying unauthorised fuel for use without an approved appliance in a Smoke Control Area can face fines of up to £1,000.
Dangers of PM2.5
According to the City Council’s latest air pollution apportionment study, 66% of all the city’s fine particulate pollution – known as PM2.5 – comes from domestic combustion (e.g. boilers, cookers, stoves and open fires in homes).
PM2.5 is particularly harmful to human health. The tiny particles can travel deep into the respiratory tract, leading to numerous health conditions, including asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia and pregnancy loss.
Oxford proposals
The City Council’s existing 23 Smoke Control Areas cover the city centre, and areas such as Headington, most of East Oxford, Blackbird Leys, Abingdon Road, Botley Road and Jericho.
A map of the existing Smoke Control Areas can be found on the City Council’s website.
The new proposals would see the existing 23 areas revoked and replaced with a single Smoke Control Area covering the entire city.
Nothing will change for those living in the parts of Oxford already covered by a Smoke Control Area.
The City Council is looking to make the change because there is rising international awareness of the dangers of fine particulate pollution, both inside and outside the home.
The World Health Organization’s 2021 report Global Air Quality Guidelines found that “there is now a much stronger body of evidence to show how air pollution affects different aspects of health at even lower concentrations than previously understood”.
What this doesn’t cover
House boats are not covered by the existing Smoke Control Areas, and will not be covered by the single Smoke Control Area proposal.
Bonfires and barbecues are also not covered by Smoke Control Areas. The City Council has separate guidance on these on its website.
Next steps
The City Council’s Cabinet could be asked to approve a consultation on the proposals in September.
If approved, the City Council would hold a public consultation on a single Smoke Control Area for Oxford soon after.
Replacing the patchwork
“We have known that smoke causes very serious health problems for decades, and Oxford’s existing Smoke Control Areas have been in place since just after the deadly Great Smog of London.
“But, with growing evidence that breathing fine particulates can lead to asthma, lung cancer and dementia, it is about time we replaced our patchwork of 23 Smoke Control Areas with a single Smoke Control Area covering the whole city.”
“Although less than 10% of households in the UK have wood burning stoves, government data shows that those stoves release more small particulates than all the vehicles on all of the roads in the UK. It is also increasing – small particle pollution produced by wood burning went up by more than a third in England from 2010-2020.”
“Although this will simplify the situation in Oxford, fine particulates can travel over many miles, so to truly protect the lungs of Oxford residents we need the Government to introduce a single Smoke Control Area across the whole country.”
Councillor Anna Railton, Cabinet Member for Zero Carbon Oxford and Climate Justice
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