In reply to Alan M:
> The council will not serve an abatement notice on a single event or limited evidence. The person who the notice is served upon has 21 days to appeal the notice through the courts. Obviously if the court finds against the Council officers reasoning then what the Council thought was a nuisance was not meaning that your case is dead and buried unless there is a significant change or intensification in burning episodes etc.
> The way to prove nuisance is to show unreasonable disturbance to your enjoyment of your property show that it isn't a one off event, show unreasonable impact etc. Read the common law definitions of nuisance (public and private) both have been incorporated in to s79 EPA 1990 (Statutory Nuisance). You can prove nuisance by documenting the events and the council will use them to support their decision if they serve a notice. The Council officer only actually needs to view one event of smoke nuisance to serve the abatement notice under 'nuisance likely to occur'. However they must witness an event where smoke is unreasonably impacting your property i.e blowing towards your house, just seeing smoke is not a nuisance. The law is clear burning events such as what you describe fall under the nuisance definition and not the definition of prejudicial to health. If the smoke is from a business then the law is different.
> What 7PM law? There are by-laws that set restrictions but no restriction under the EPA 1990. It is the smoke that can be the nuisance, not the act of having the fire.
> I mention section 82 as if the event is seriously affecting you and or your neighbourhood you and/or your neighbours can take action. You do not need the level of evidence the council needs to take action under section 80 of the EPA1990 as you will not be taking a criminal case. I look at it along the lines of you can't blanket ban/impose a national law on something like what you describe and in my opinion nuisance legislation is appropriate for this type of case.
Hmm, I guess I'll start documenting again. Thanks for the help.