Wealden District Council News and Information

Published: 29 April 2020

We do not recommend that residents have bonfires. Residential bonfires attract many complaints and are a source of air pollution. We recommend that garden waste is composted or taken to a household waste site or placed into your green bin.

However, there are no byelaws preventing bonfires so if you decide to have one, you must not cause a statutory nuisance to neighbours or cause anti-social behaviour. A one off bonfire is unlikely to result in formal action but this may change if they occur on a regular basis.

If you do have a bonfire, we urge you to be extremely careful and follow the recommendations below. This should help prevent any complaints.

Our bonfire recommendations are:

• Always warn your neighbours in advance
• Burn during low wind conditions
• Burn in the evening when windows are closed
• Burn when washing has been taken in
• Only burn dry material
• Burn as far away from your neighbours as possible
• If a neighbour's house has become engulfed by your smoke, please put out your bonfire immediately.