Schedule 1A of the Clean Air Act 1993 (as amended by the Environment Act 2001) sets out the levels of financial penalty, the minimum amount is £175, the maximum amount is £300.
Chesterfield Borough Council has adopted a scale of financial penalties (from the minimum to the maximum allowed) for those responsible for continuous or regular smoke emissions from a chimney. This does not apply when the fire has first been lit.
The financial penalty imposed will be based on:
- how serious the offence is, and
- if it is a repeat offence
The table below shows how the penalty amounts will be imposed:
Penalty level |
First offence |
Second offence |
Third offence |
|---|---|---|---|
A - low or no culpability |
£175 |
n/a |
n/a |
B - reckless |
£200 |
£250 |
£300 |
C - deliberate |
£225 |
£275 |
£300 |
A – low or no culpability: offence committed with little or no fault, for example a genuine accident despite the presence of proper preventative measures, or where proper preventative measures were unforeseeably overcome by exceptional events.
B – reckless: actual foresight of, or wilful blindness to, risk of offending but risk nevertheless taken.
C – deliberate: where the rules were intentionally breached, or flagrantly disregarded.