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RESOLVED:
 
Considered the
objections raised during the engagement period and approved the
decision to postpone extending the smoke controls to include moored
vessels at this time. This was in recognition of the concerns
raised about the financial impacts on those dependent on solid fuel
for domestic heating, and that funding from central Government to
help the Council provide support had not yet been awarded.
 
Approved the draft
Smoke Control Order (SCO) attached to this report at Appendix
4.
 
Set the date for
coming into force of the Revocation Order as 30 November 2025 and
the date for coming into force of the new SCO as 1 December
2025.
 
REASONS FOR DECISION
 
There is a need for smoke controls to be in
place in order to minimise the effects of emissions from domestic
heating on air quality and health. Burning solid fuel, such as wood
and coal, causes air pollution. Emissions from burning for domestic
heating is estimated to be the second biggest contributor to levels
of fine particulate matter in London. SCOs have been in place for
many years and significant air quality benefits have been achieved
as a result of their introduction. Having a SCO in place will help
to retain the air quality benefits that have been achieved by
continuing to control emissions from the burning of solid fuel.
 
Approval was granted at Cabinet in February
2024 to start the process for introducing a single boroughwide SCO. This was to replace the 27
separate SCOs that have been in place for around 60 years. A
statutory process must be followed which involves revoking all of
the existing SCOs and publishing a draft new SCO, on which anyone
who might be affected can raise objections.
 
A Revocation Order was made and published,
with people having the opportunity to raise objections to it. The
Secretary of State advised that no objections were received and
confirmed the Revocation Order on 3 December 2024. The approval of
the Revocation Order should be noted and a date now needs to be set
when the Order will come into force and all Smoke Control Areas in
the Borough will cease to exist. The date needs to be after 3 June
2025 but it can be dated later to align with the introduction of
any new SCO.
 
To ensure that emissions from solid fuel
burning continue to be controlled, a new Order is required to
replace those that have been revoked.
 
A draft SCO was published and an opportunity
was provided for people to object. A number of objections were
received and the Council has a duty to consider all objections.
Concerns were raised about the financial impacts on people who are
dependent on solid fuel for heating their homes. Funding from
central Government was to be provided to local councils to assist
them with providing financial support to those affected, but this
funding has not yet been made available. Therefore, the decision is
to introduce a new SCO, which consolidates the previous Orders into
one single boroughwide Order, but which
does not extend the controls to cover waterways at this time.
 
When funding from DEFRA is made available to
the Council, the decision on whether to amend the SCO to include
moored vessels can be revisited. This will be a decision for the
local authority, following another period of engagement with those
who may be affected.
 
DETAILS OF ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND
REJECTED
 
Revoke existing SCOs without
replacing them: As the revocation of the historic SCOs has been
approved by the Secretary of State, we need to set a date when this
will come into effect. This needs to be after 3 June 2025. Once the
Revocation Order comes into effect, there will be no Smoke Control
Areas in the Borough and the option to retain this position exists.
The offence associated with emitting smoke from a chimney would no
longer apply in Hackney and people would be able to legally burn
wood in an open fireplace. The types of fuel that can be sold or
supplied would continue to be controlled under the Air Quality
(Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) Regulations 2020. This requires
wood to be dried and for solid fuel to be certified as ‘Ready
to Burn’.
 
Introduce a new boroughwide Smoke Control Order which includes
moored vessels: This would consolidate the historic Orders into
a single Order but would also extend the scope to include vessels
which moor on the Borough’s waterways. Moored vessels were
not covered by the previous Orders so this would introduce a change
to the regulatory provisions. This was proposed in the draft Order
on which people were invited to comment. Through the engagement
period, a number of objections were received which the Borough
needs to consider when making its decision. If this is introduced,
the Regulations require the local authority to reimburse 70% of the
costs incurred by any vessel meeting the eligibility criteria to
upgrade their heating appliance to comply with the new
requirements. Funding for the local authority is not currently
available to cover these costs so the objections raised regarding
financial concerns can not be
adequately addressed.