Garden bonfires
Garden bonfires are not illegal, even in a smoke control area, but there are laws for the nuisance they can cause.
Burning domestic waste
You can't burn household waste if it will cause pollution or harm people's health. Dry garden waste can be burnt.
Dispose of household or garden waste by composting or recycling it.
- Use our garden waste collections page to find out about the service and how to subscribe.
- Find out more about how to dispose of waste and what you can recycle in County Durham on our What goes in which bin? page.
Drifting smoke - danger to traffic
You could be fined if you light a fire and you allow the smoke to drift across the road and become a danger to traffic.
Complain about a neighbours' bonfire
We can issue an abatement notice if a neighbour's bonfire is causing a nuisance. Your neighbour can be fined up to £5,000 if they don't stick to the notice.
A bonfire must happen frequently to be considered a nuisance.
Contact us
- Environment, Health and Consumer Protection
- Environment, Health and Consumer Protection
- 03000 261 016
-
Our address is:
- Durham County Council
- Environment, Health and Consumer Protect
- PO Box 617
- Durham
- County Durham
- United Kingdom
- DH1 9HZ
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