Smoke control area
Areas where: - you cannot release smoke from a chimney - you can only burn authorised fuel, unless you use an appliance approved by Defra
- Design stage
- Research
- Tags
- Github
- Join the discussion
- Synonyms
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- Smoke control order
- Legislation
- No legislation added
- Expected number of records
- Unknown
- Frequency of updates
- Unknown
- Useful links
- Technical specification
- No specification added
Background information
Each planning consideration we work on passes through the stages of our design process, where we research and answer specific questions to help us collect more information.
Backlog
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Who asked for 'Smoke control area' data?
The Geospatial Commission has published a list of 65 open datasets that they believe are used during the housing and planning process. This includes Smoke Control Areas
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What is the driver for the request?
Other
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Which 2024 focus area does the request support?
- Modern planning software
Screen
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What is the 'Smoke control area' consideration?
A smoke control area (defined by UK Air (DEFRA))is an area where people and businesses must not:
- Emit smoke from a chimney
- Buy or sell unauthorised fuel for use in a smoke control area unless it’s used in an ‘exempt’ appliance (appliances which are approved to use in smoke control areas)
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Is there legislation that defines 'Smoke control area'?
Yes
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What is the legislation that defines 'Smoke control area'?
Clean Air Act 1956, section 11 - "(2) - Subject to any exemptions and limitations for the time being in force under this section, if, on any day, smoke is emitted from a chimney of any building within a smoke control area, the occupier of that building shall be guilty of an offence:"
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What is the specific part of the legislation that describes how a 'Smoke control area' gets designated?
Clean Air Act 1993, Sections 18 and 19 - "Creation of Smoke Control Areas"
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What is the specific part of the legislation that requires the publication of 'Smoke control area'?
N / A
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Who, in law, is responsible for the planning consideration or makes decisions about 'Smoke control area'?
- Local Authority
- Secretary of State (DEFRA)
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Which organisations do we think should publish the data?
- UK Air (Defra)
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Is the Smoke control area a trigger?
No
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Is the Smoke control area something to consult during plan making?
Yes
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Provide information about when Smoke control area is used during plan making
This dataset should be consulted by LPAs to ensure that development plan policies capture the presence of the smoke controle area, and that sufficient mitigation is being taken during development.
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Is there any Smoke control area data already available?
Yes
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What Smoke control area data is currently available?
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Item 1
- name
- Smoke Control Areas
- fields
- Local Authority name;Local Authority code;County;Devolved Authority;SCA or Exemption;Order details;District coverage;Affected postcodes
- licence
- Uses derived data from OS (under PSGA), Royal Mail (under PSGA) and ONS - publishing rights are unclear
- coverage
- National
- publisher
- UK Air (DEFRA)
- attribution
- © Crown copyright and database rights licensed under Defra's Public Sector Mapping Agreement with Ordnance Survey (licence No. 100022861).
- metadata_url
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Do we think the data should come from a single source?
Yes - UK Air
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Will a data standard be required?
No
Research
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Do we understand the lifecycle of a Smoke control area?
No
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Do we understand how the data is created/produced?
N/A
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Where will or should the data be used?
N/A
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What other planning considerations does it interact with?
N/A
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Who are the statutory consultees for Smoke control area?
N/A
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Other than the statutory consultees who are the primary users of Smoke control area? How do we expect them to use Smoke control area?
N/A
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What are the planning needs for this data?
Understanding the presence of a smoke control is essential for homeowners, landowners and developers, to ensure that actions are in line with the designation, and sufficient mitigation is taken to prevent any harmful effects.
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Who are the types of users who might benefit from having access to Smoke control area data?
N/A
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What are some potential uses of Smoke control area data?
N/A
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What's the value of adding Smoke control area data to the platform?
N/A
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From what we have learnt so far are there any risks to making Smoke control area data available?
The licence linked to the data is unclear / restrictive, as it relies on derived data from OS and Royal Mail, so this needs to be investigated further.
3 updates
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Claire Miller (26 September 2024)
As per some research we did, summarised in this blog on an analysis of local plans and local area requirements, we're confident that this consideration acts as an INPUT to the process of creating a local plan.
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Mike Rose (02 July 2024)
RESTRICTIVE / UNCLEAR LICENCE
Use limitations By accessing this data outside this application or web map you acknowledge the use limitations this data is subject to and confirm that you hold an appropriate license from Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail.
Conditions of use depend on the contract you have with OS and vary by product. Public sector options are summarised here
Data is used within this application with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationary Office Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution and/or civil proceedings.
Any images taken or maps produced using this data must not be used for financial gain, and all hard copies and electronically published material produced from OS data must include the following acknowledgement: © Crown copyright and database rights licensed under Defra's Public Sector Mapping Agreement with Ordnance Survey (licence No. 100022861)
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Kieran Wint (01 July 2024)
The licence needs to be reviewed prior to progression to co-design, as the data relies on derived data.
Last updated: 2025-09-11 10:25:01