Waverley supports Clean Air Night 2025

It’s easy to associate the glow of a fire or wood burner with cosiness, but recent evidence shows that air pollution from wood burning is bad for your health. Wood burning smoke contains fine particle air pollution (PM2.5), which enters your bloodstream when inhaled and can cause heart and lung disease, diabetes, and dementia.

And, although, pressures on household finances or desires to be more eco-friendly may tempt people to heat their home this way, research shows that wood burning produces more carbon emissions than oil or gas and is almost always more expensive than other forms of heating.

That’s why Global Action Plan is running Clean Air Night on 22 January 2025 to spark a conversation about wood burning and ensure everyone can make informed decisions about how to heat their homes.

Councillor Steve Williams, Waverley Borough Council's Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability, said:

“It might well be news to a lot of our residents that lighting fires in their homes is the largest source of harmful fine particle air pollution in the UK and, as a council working towards its own ambitious climate goals, we are happy to support this important campaign and share the message that wood burning is not only harmful to health but the environment too.  I would urge residents to get involved by taking a look at the information on the Clean Air Hub and sharing what you learn with family and friends.”

You can find out more by visiting cleanairnight.org.uk and exploring #CleanAirNight

Further information on how you can help improve air quality can be found on our website at  Waverley Borough Council - How you can help improve air quality.

You can also get involved in our conversation about how we can deal with climate change in the borough by visiting our Climate Change Hub at  Have Your Say Today - Waverley Borough Council - Commonplace.

For further information on our climate change strategy and action plan, visit Waverley Borough Council - Climate change strategy and action plan.