Neighbour’s bonfires may breach nuisance rules if smoke worsens asthma

A reader says their neighbour’s bonfires bring smoke onto their property and trigger their asthma. Garden bonfires are not generally prohibited, but repeated smoke may qualify as a statutory nuisance if it affects health or unreasonably interferes with the home.

The advice is to contact the council’s environmental health department, keep a record of incidents and gather relevant medical evidence. The council can require the neighbour to stop or restrict fires through an abatement notice, and ignoring one is a criminal offence. A private nuisance claim and injunction may also be possible, but could be costly; a fire only happening once a year may make a complaint harder to establish.