Cannock Chase District Council is running a consultation on extending its smoke control area to include moored boats on the Trent and Mersey Canal in Rugeley and the Cannock Extension Canal including the marina at Norton Canes. The deadline for responses is 31st March 2023. Send your comments or objections to environmentalhealth@cannockchasedc.gov.uk with the subject line “Objection to revision to Smoke Control Orders”.
See www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk/smokecontrol for full information about the consultation. The NBTA will be responding to this consultation.
The consultation letter can be downloaded here Cannock Chase smoke control 2023-02 Consultation Letter
The draft Smoke Control Order can be downloaded here smoke_control_order_cannock_2023_draft
The Environment Act 2021 extended smoke control areas to moored boats and gave local authorities the power to impose a financial penalty where they witness the emission of a “significant quantity of smoke from a chimney”, regardless of the appliance being used or the type of fuel burned.
You may wish to comment that a solid fuel stove is your only form of heating and cooking in your home; that this will make heating your boat unaffordable; or ask how boaters will know when they are entering the proposed smoke control area; or whether you can use your existing stove and use kindling to light the fire (you should be able to do both); or how the Council proposes to define and what instruments it will use to measure a “significant quantity of smoke from a chimney”; or what you should do if you cannot afford to pay a fine; or what you should do if you already use smokeless fuel but the Council considers you to be in breach of the order, given that you cannot afford the £800.00 -plus for a new stove; or ask why the rural Cannock Extension Canal is being included in the proposed smoke control area; or ask whether the Council plans to follow DEFRA guidance on this issue.
See https://www.bargee-traveller.org.uk/defra-guidance-on-applying-smoke-control-areas-to-boats/