Acrid smoke from bonfires ruining new home move
MAN WOULDN’T HAVE BOUGHT HIS HOUSE HAD HE KNOWN OF ISSUE
AN exasperated resident of a new housing estate in Earl Shilton says he would never have bought his home had he known he would constantly be affected by acrid smoke from bonfires.
The man, who wished to remain anonymous, moved into a new estate off Westfield Avenue in April, with the unpleasant fumes from neighbouring allotments drifting over into his garden and into his house several times a month.
He reports the issue to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council whenever there is a fire, but officials have been unable to identify who is responsible for the blazes. The frustrated resident said: “I don’t think we would have bought the property had we known this would be such a problem.
“We bought a new home and it’s not quite what we anticipated.
“It feels like this is going to be an ongoing issue and a non-starter in terms of enforcement.
“I can’t see how it’s going to be resolved.”
On one hot day in July, after leaving his windows open to cool the house, he said the stench filled the inside of his home.
The Mercury has asked Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council for an update on the situation.
We spoke to the man about the issue in September, when the authority said that it had received reports of 12 bonfires in 14 weeks, with officers attending the site to try to find out who was responsible.
Since then, the resident says there have been at least six more fires, including two in one week in recent days.
A borough council spokesperson said previously: “The difficulty is that sometimes the bonfires happen
at evenings and weekends. We have already written to the owners of certain plots who we believe are burning to advise them that complaints have been made in an attempt to avoid impact from further fires.”
The houses are separated from the allotments by a tall hedge.
If officials can establish there is an incident of statutory nuisance, which would include the impact of smoke from a bonfire, the council has powers to issue a notice requiring a land owner or tenant to stop what they are doing.