Every year we get a large number of complaints about bonfires causing a nuisance to our residents.

We have the power to take formal action if bonfires cause a serious nuisance to neighbours.

There are no byelaws that either prevent people from having occasional garden bonfires or specific times when they can be lit, but there are a few alternatives which are safer and have less of an impact to the environment. These are:

  • Composting (or burying) soft garden waste such as grass cutting
  • Taking woody garden waste to one of the refuse amenity disposal sites (listed below)
  • Hire a skip from a private contractor for large amounts of waste
  • Our cleansing team provide a garden waste collection service through a brown wheelie bin system. They will also collect certain bulky items through their special collections service. Find out more on the bulky waste webpage.

Should you decide to start a bonfire at your home, please take notice of the information on this page and the recommendations outlined on our nuisance from garden bonfires webpage.

Contact information

In three quarters of cases, people do not know that they are causing problems others so be sure to politely tell someone if their bonfire is effecting you.

If this doesn't work then contact us and we will try to help using our powers under the Environmental Protection Act. We will write to your neighbour explaining the law and steps they can take to avoid needing to burn.

We ask that you keep a brief log of each incident, such as the date, time and nature of the problem so we can better assess the situation.

Take rubbish to the tip

The tips in Charnwood are run by Leicestershire County Council and are at:

  • Hathern Road site Shepshed.
  • Granite Way, Mountsorrel.
  • Railway Terrace Loughborough.

For more information about the sites visit the county council’s website or call them on 0116 305 0001.

Last updated: Mon 8th November, 2021 @ 15:37