AndyRoo Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 So, since we moved into our house 6 months ago my neighbour's neighbour's neighbour has had a bonfire at least once every week or so and it is driving me nuts! It's partly because I have asthma, and partly because I am sick to death of going outside for 5 minutes and coming inside stinking of smoke. I am particularly annoyed as the weather is just starting to turn nice and I want to start hanging washing outside etc. Are there any rules? Is it worth just popping down the street and saying "Can you please stop having them so frequently?". I don't want to be one of 'those' neighbours, and I'm not opposed to people having the occasional bonfire - I do myself (albeit about once a year), or barbecues which I expect everyone to have at least every few weeks in summer - but once every week or bi-weekly is a bit much!! Has anyone else had this issue with any of their neighbours? If so, how did you tackle it? Help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Poor you. I think there are rules especially if you live in a smokeless zone. You could try your local councils website. What on earth are they burning that it is so frequent? Like you we may have one once or twice a year, usually in late evening when washing and people have gone in for evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Poor you. I think there are rules especially if you live in a smokeless zone. You could try your local councils website. What on earth are they burning that it is so frequent? Like you we may have one once or twice a year, usually in late evening when washing and people have gone in for evening. probably because they can't be bothered to put the bins out We had folk around here do that every Tuesday night (bin day) they'd have a fire the other ones used to have a couple of shops so every couple of months they'd have a fire to burn the rubbish from the shops luckerly the shops got shut down after a police raid there are regs about having bonfires but they vary from council to council here they'll enforce them for allotments and some commercial property but very rarely on domestic property unless the local Councillor gets involved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 Poor you. I think there are rules especially if you live in a smokeless zone. You could try your local councils website. What on earth are they burning that it is so frequent? Like you we may have one once or twice a year, usually in late evening when washing and people have gone in for evening. Sadly we're not in a specifically smoke-free zone! Rich and I literally just had the "What the hell can they be burning every week?" conversation... Even if they had one once a month it wouldn't bother me - and do it later in the evening as you say (which is what we do too!). Maybe I need to see if there's some kind of pattern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 probably because they can't be bothered to put the bins out We had folk around here do that every Tuesday night (bin day) OMG... I think you might be on to something there! Our bins are every other week on Tuesday, so the next one is next week! As they had one today, maybe that's the pattern!! Right, I am going to be keeping a beady eye out for the next few weeks to see if that's it. If it is, I am going to raise it with the council!! *Puts on sleuthing cap* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percy049 Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Someone on my parent's road often burns rubbish on his driveway..... I keep telling them they need to report it to the council Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Haven't had this but do hate it when someone had had a bonfire when our washing's out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 The rule used to be after 6 and at weekends for bonfires. Common courtesy should be used and not on a day when the wind is blowing across gardens. I hate it when builders - when they were clearing sites for housing - and farmers decide to have a burn up when my washing is out. But farmers don't do it as much as the builders did. All housing done for the time being - next phase further away but if they decide to burn the hedgerows then that smoke will drift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Where we used to live had the best by-laws, you could only have bonfires after sunset. Sadly living here there are no such rules - people can have a fire whenever they want I don't have a tumble dryer so always peg out my washing and it infuriates me when people have fires. You can see my washing for miles, hanging on the line connected near my house roof at one end and a scaffold pole at the other. I also like to have my windows open and don't see why I should have to shut them because someone inconsiderate has a fire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 The rule used to be after 6 and at weekends for bonfires. that's actually an urban myth there was never a set time it was just a accepted 'convention' mainly because councils didn't work after 4pm or at weekends. but since the clean air act came in to force in the 80's plus a few additions from the EU environmental protection regs it's basically illegal to have bonfires regardless of weather of not it's a smokeless zone or not trouble is it's one of those regs that has to be enforced by an officer of the council which basically means witnessed by said officer because very few if any neighbors of any one lighting regular bonfires will stand up in court to give evidence bonfire on allotments have been banded since the 1952 allotment act revision but only enforced by some councils since the late 90's. in Sandwell for self managed sites it's now in the lease,constitution and more importantly the tenancy agreement as of 2013. Council run sites at the moment don't have the new agreement in place nor do 2 of the self managed sites soon to be one. so it's now an 'evictable 'offense' not that anyone will ever will be evicted for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 So, since we moved into our house 6 months ago my neighbour's neighbour's neighbour has had a bonfire at least once every week Your council can issue an ‘abatement notice’ if a neighbour’s bonfire is causing a nuisance. A bonfire must happen frequently to be considered a nuisance. I would say once a week is frequently. Your neighbour can be fined up to £5,000 if they don’t stick to the notice. Official government advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 So, since we moved into our house 6 months ago my neighbour's neighbour's neighbour has had a bonfire at least once every week Your council can issue an ‘abatement notice’ if a neighbour’s bonfire is causing a nuisance. A bonfire must happen frequently to be considered a nuisance. I would say once a week is frequently. Your neighbour can be fined up to £5,000 if they don’t stick to the notice. Official government advice Oooh. Maybe I'll just start by putting a flaming bag of cat poop on their doorstep first, and build up to this from there. As I said: I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with someone having a bonfire or a BBQ occasionally - every does it. But every week or so just seems like a bit much. I am going to check the pattern that someone mentioned earlier, though. If it's every alternate bin day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 How's it going, Andyroo? Have you had your sleuthing hat on and noticed a pattern? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted April 29, 2017 Author Share Posted April 29, 2017 How's it going, Andyroo? Have you had your sleuthing hat on and noticed a pattern? Not yet. Because the fences and trees/hedges are so tall between us and our neighbours we can't really tell whether it is our neighbour's neighbour, or the one after that. If it's the former, it makes little difference because they're moving shortly anyway. If it's the latter, then they were having another one today... which doesn't follow any pattern I can think of. If that's the case, then it just means they're people who have a lot of bonfires! We've just started hanging our washing outside too, so if it's going to keep happening I might slip a highly passive-aggressive note through their door! That or I am going to buy one of those giant movie set fans and aim it all back at them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
