There’s no smoke without fire

NORTH Tyneside Council has created 61 smoke control areas that cover the majority of the borough.

It is an offence to create smoke from a chimney except during lighting up when kindling may be used, yet when walking round Whitley Lodge estate, Whitley Bay, at night almost every street has at least one chimney emitting smoke which can be smelt and catches in the throat at ground level.

It is part of the Government’s 25-year plan to improve air quality – which will almost certainly focus on wood burners and fires, not least because Michael Gove says they account for 38% of damaging particulate matter in the UK.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has already asked for powers to curb their use and other councils are understood to be looking at them.

Researchers have found wood burning stoves emit tiny particles, known as PM2.5, which is the most harmful type of air pollution and is linked to heart attacks, strokes, cancer and dementia.

Even a UK government approved “eco-friendly” stove emits pollution at same rate as 25 ten-year-old diesel lorries, and since road transport accounts for 12% of particular emissions, why is this given priority over controlling stoves?

Dr Gary Fuller, a leading pollution scientist at King’s College London, has now said action must take place “urgently” to cut down on the craze as “lives are at risk”.

He warned wood-burning fires can produce about six times more particle pollution than a modern diesel lorry, or 18 times more than a modern diesel car. So what is North Tyneside Council doing about this hazardous pollution?

MIKE COATES, Whitley Bay