All residents in Gedling borough are being asked not to have bonfires.
There has been a big jump in the number of complaints about people burning garden and household waste in the borough, which has prompted the council to make a fresh plea to those living in the area.
Many residents have taken to burning waste that would normally be taken to the recycling centre in Calverton, which remains closed due to the UK lockdown.
A spokesman for Gedling Borough Council said: “There are reports of an increased number of bonfires recently. If you have extra garden waste, please compost or store it in a dry area and take it to a recycling centre once they reopen. Don’t have a garden fire.
“Bonfire smoke can cause problems for people with health conditions and create an extra burden on the Fire Service
“You should never burn general waste. You could be fined up to £5,000 for creating a smoke nuisance.”
The council guidelines on bonfires along with details on how to report an offence can be found here: https://www.gedling.gov.uk/resident/environmentalhealth/smokecontrol
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) has also backed the councils call for less fires after seeing an increased number of controlled burns within the last four weeks,
Station Manager Paul Gair said: “As the weather gets warmer and people staying at home in line with government advice, we have seen an increase in residents lighting bonfires and we have had to deal with a number of bonfires that have got out of control.
“We are now asking Nottinghamshire residents to refrain from having bonfires due to the potential health implications the smoke could have on the respiratory system.
“We also ask you to consider the implications this could have on NFRS at this time due to unnecessary demand of bonfire calls.”
I personally think the council should completely ban garden fires altogether….they only cause stress between neighbours.
Or if someone does decide to have a garden fire a law should be put in place that says you should only be allowed to have one no nearer than fifty feet from a neighbouring property, and at a agreed time e.g the person that wants to have a garden fire should at least get in touch with their neighbours or neighbour and just ask if its ok to have a fire at a certain time, this would be the common sense and polite thing to do so that the other neighbours could make sure there’s no washing out , or not to sit out in the garden and have a bbq or leave windows open on the day of the agreed fire.
Or another option could be to just ban them completely during the summer months .