Suffolk Coastal has powers to deal with smoke, dust or fumes
that amount to a statutory nuisance under the Environmental
Protection Act 1990, Section 79. Statutory nuisance is not easily
defined, in general terms it is something that interferes
unreasonably with your enjoyment of your property, a regular
disturbance that continues sufficiently to be deemed
unreasonable.
One-off occurrences such as dust from an initial site clearance,
or occasional bonfires are unlikely to be considered a statutory
nuisance.
Dark smoke emitted from industrial or trade premises (vehicle
tyres being burned on commercial premises for example) is an
offence under the Clean Air Act 1993 and would need to be witnessed
by an officer from the Environmental Protection Team at the
earliest opportunity.
Bonfires
Bonfires produce smoke, toxic chemicals and can cause annoyance
to neighbours. Much of the rubbish we create can be recycled -
please use your brown wheeled bin to
recycle
your garden waste or consider
home composting. Additional brown bins are
available for the disposal of extra garden waste for an annual
service charge. Please contact our Recycling Team on 01394
444000 for details.
Alternatively, you can take garden waste, scrap timber
and other materials for recycling or disposal to
the household waste recycling centres (new
window) at Foxhall, Felixstowe or Leiston.
Lighting a bonfire should be a last resort when there is no
other suitable means of disposal. Our leaflet gives
guidance for lighting bonfires (new window
PDF 62KB) and explains what you can do if a bonfire affects
you.
Follow this link for help with downloading and opening PDF files.
What should I do if I have a problem with smoke, dust or
fumes?
Often, the best method is to approach the person responsible and
explain politely that you are being troubled by the smoke, dust or
fumes. In most cases, people are unaware of the problem they are
causing.
If this is not possible or if the problem continues, contact the
Environmental Protection Team on 01394 444624
or email
environmental.protection@suffolkcoastal.gov.uk.
We will need your name and address and the details of where the
smoke or dust is coming from.
We will probably ask you to complete a complaint record form,
noting the times and dates of occurrences, and to return it to us
within 21 days. This information enables us to target our
monitoring visits to times we are most likely to witness an
occurrence of the problem and can also be quoted in court if legal
action is taken. Follow this link
to print off a complaint record form (new
window PDF 14KB).
If we cannot assist you following our investigation, you may
wish to take your own private action for nuisance through the
Magistrates' Court without involving the Council.
You can also
use the online report a problem facility (new
window) on the onesuffolk website to report nuisance
caused by smoke, dust or fumes in the Suffolk Coastal district
and other council areas in
Suffolk.