Yet another thread of the nasty neighbor polluting air therefore I will take him to court. Whatever happened to the I have a problem with my neighbor therefore I will work with them to come to an acceptable solution. Its not rocket science the solutions are out there and far less costly then any litigation. Ok it may cost £1500 per chimney but at least its a permanent solution and you retain a relationship with your neighbor and the ability to sell your house.

Also it does nothing to raise awareness to the problem.

Probably best not to discuss it with the neighbour at all, just hit them with it. That will sharpen their minds.

True

Posted By: gyrogearI think EHOs talk about this at their regional meetings and have adopted a do nothing policy.

yes, I guess so... it is probably to ensure they stick to a common purpose.
gg

Is it possible to email all the local EHO offices and ask for their policy/views on smoke nuisance from WBS?

It's a pity that investigative journalism is a thing of the past. Mikeee's story would make a good article and no doubt raise awareness. The only place I've ever heard anything about this sort of issue has been on Radio 4 consumer programme. I've often wondered if anyone in achdemia is researching the subject?

I often get the feeling the government don't take much notice of achdemia and are more easily swayed by the lobbyist paid for by vested interests. Why else would building regs be watered down or emmissions targets ignored?

Have not posted for a while as I don't seem to be getting anywhere with the council.

I have wrote to the council stating that the chimney is illegal and requires planning permission, this was 6 weeks ago and still not heard a thing back.

Enviromental health are not much use at the moment, every time the smoke is bad he is not available, can't get a phone signal or turned his phone off. He said that if it is over the weekend we can't contact him which is not a lot of use when on a Sunday the neighbour has the woodburning cooker going all day for a roast dinner. This Sunday just gone had the windows open and the smoke and fumes were coming in from 8am to 6pm, phoned environmental health his voicemail was on, left a message and still not heard anything from him !!

Environmental health wrote a letter to the neighbour asking him to check if he was burning the correct wood, ever since then it has got worse and he is chopping up lead painted wood in front of our house and putting it on the fire every day. The fumes are terrible and thick grey smoke.

This neighbour has a woodburning cooker connected to a thermal store so now is the time we are opening our windows and doors and the fumes are coming straight in. We have had to move our 12 year old daughter out of her bedroom to another bedroom as the smoke is coming directly into her room now that the window is open with the good weather.

Enviromental health said that they can not do anything about the toxic fumes he is producing as we are not in a smoke controlled area ????

I've spoken to a solicitor who says that environment health should take responsibility and do more.

Posted By: WaddlerI have wrote to the council stating that the chimney is illegal and requires planning permission, this was 6 weeks ago and still not heard a thing back.

Contact your district councillor and ask him/her why you have heard nothing from planning. S/he may also be able to help with Enironmental Health.

Environmental health wrote a letter to the neighbour asking him to check if he was burning the correct wood, ever since then it has got worse and he is chopping up lead painted wood in front of our house and putting it on the fire every day. The fumes are terrible and thick grey smoke.

Take photos and/or preferably videos. Both of the wood being cut up and of the smoke.

it might be worth inviting your local councillor or MP round for tea on Sunday if that is possible?

Sorry to say but the easiest thing to do is move while you still can. Once you get it established you have a neighbor problem in respect of smoke pollution then your house will become very difficult to sell especially given the height differences you have already mentioned. With hindsight its probably not a good idea buying a house where chimneys are at the same level as opening windows.

Unfair, shortsighted, selfish and does not help solve a problem that needs sorting out.

Ultimately an unsustainable action.

personally I think the moving option has already gone. Has the OP not already gone on the record with the complaint with the local authority? I dont know the exact wording, but solicitors use a standard form in conveyancing which basically includes a question along the lines of "have there been any discussions or communications or disputes with neighbours or other bodies about the property?". A quick search online will yield many who have not disclosed an issue like this in a sale and later had this come back to haunt them in court. In a nutshell, the OP would be on risky legal ground to sell and not declare the nuisance complaint. Ofcourse, OP could declare it during the sale, but what prospects of a sale in that case?

Lots of good suggestions above about trying to kick the LA into action. I would go hard on these but I would set a date after which focus should shift to the statutory nuisance/magistrates court option, as detailed in the Richard Buxton article posted earlier in the thread by Mike1. Obivously, professional advice key, but this seems relativedly low cost and swift. In the OPs shoes, I think I'd be looking for a solicitor to advise on this path.

This seems to be a repeating story. Neighbour soaks neighbour with acrid smoke, is insensitive to concerns and complaints and carries on.

To Waddler: your solicitor should be doing all the hard work in determining what possible successful action could be taken to safeguard your health and your family's.

Not being in a smokeless zone actually makes your life easier in bringing about a statutory nuisance claim. You need to provide evidence that your health and the reasonable enjoyment of your property is affected. There are other recourses. One is to pursue a personal injury claim; another is to pursue a case of actual bodily harm; a third is to claim under the human rights act regarding access to clean air.

In my view, the main problem is a lack of measurable criteria, and a recognised means of measuring that criteria,by which harmful levels of pollutants can be judged. All we have is the WHO's 2005 indoor air quality acceptable limits.

If I were setting criteria, I would make a limit of just 1ug/m3 PM2.5 annual average from a neighbouring source, one hour peaks to be 20ug/m3. As for CO, I would make an annual average set at 2ppm and one hour peaks set at a 20ppm limit. As for PAH's, I would set 0.2ng/m3 BAP (bento a pyrene marker) annual average from any neighbouring sources. I have borne in mind that one could have four or five neighbours all doing the same thing.

I am not an expert but I do believe that personal exposures to pollutants are the key and we need to set policy either based on measurement or on modelling or both. We need to remember that wood is not toxic (unless it is breathable dust which causes nasal cancer), nor is fire (but heat can burn skin and maybe cause skin cancer) but smoke is toxic and wood smoke is more toxic than even cigarette smoke!

Waddler

Apologies in advance for the blunt post!

If your aim is to get the neighbour to stop, there are really only three ways of doing this:-
(a) come to an agreement with your neighbour,
(b) get the Council to take action as a public nuisance
(c) take action in the county court as a private nuisance.

Everything else won't get you to this end and will distract you. It is likely that (c) is your only option.

Don't forget that as a general rule English law leaves people to sort their problems out - and provides the Courts as a service for people to resolve disputes. Local Councils have a very limited range of powers and in the main, exercise of those powers is discretionary.

Don't forget that LAs have been subject to cut-backs and planning/enforcement is the hardest hit of all departments. Don't be surprised if they just don't do anything.

Taking the Government to the ECHR won't stop the smoke. Complaining to HETAS won't stop the smoke. Complaining to the installer won't stop the smoke. Only one of the three things above will.

A private nuisance action, with an expert, a solicitor and a barrister will probably cost £50 - £100k + VAT. If you think that is a lot - at an average of £200p/h - that's only 250-500 hours to be split between those three professionals. Hopefully you are insured.

The trouble is that the defendant can spend that too. Then the case has £100 - £200k in costs alone riding on it. To those on this board who say just sue them - have a think about how well you'd sleep with £200k riding on it...

The evidence is key. Get as much as you can. Hopefully you were already creating a diary whilst waiting for the Council to send you one for 6 months. For the money involved and for the fact that HD CCTV is relatively cheap, fit some decent CCTV to get good footage. Write everything down.

If you can get the Council to take action, brilliant - this is free. Write to the chief executive; complain to the Local Government Ombudsman, complain to your MP. But Councils recently seem to just try to seek agreement that the polluter "won't do it again" rather than taking formal action.

Keep in mind (c) above and that the sooner you start, the sooner it will stop.

Good luck.