York Smoke Control Area: Whole City Covered From 1 November

From Sunday, every home in York falls inside a Smoke Control Area, which changes what about one in five households in the city can legally burn. The Budget suspended the import tariff on heating oil, a new government loan scheme covers biomass boilers, and the trade bodies have asked Northern Ireland for a legal limit on wet wood.

York becomes a citywide Smoke Control Area on 1 November

City of York Council said on 27 October that the whole council area becomes a Smoke Control Area from 1 November 2026. Around 80% of York households are already covered; the rest come under the same rules on Sunday. The council is clear that this is not a ban on stoves or open fires. From 1 November:

• Open fires must burn an authorised smokeless fuel.
• Wood can still be burned, but only in a Defra-approved (exempt) stove.
• Chimneys must not give off prolonged smoke beyond the first 15 minutes after a fire is lit.
• The council asks people to buy wood carrying the Ready to Burn logo.

Outdoor barbecues, chimineas, fire pits and bonfires are covered by separate law and are not affected. The council says its first priority is helping people understand the change, but anyone who repeatedly breaks the rules after being given advice could be fined up to £300. York’s Director of Public Health, Peter Roderick, said solid fuel burning accounts for nearly a third of PM2.5 emissions in the city.

Why it matters: if you live in the newly covered fifth of York and burn logs in a stove, check the model against Defra’s exempt appliance list this week. If it is not on it, you can keep using it only with authorised fuel, such as approved smokeless fuel or certain briquettes. On any stove, wet wood is the quickest way to make visible smoke: aim for under 20% moisture, which is the line Ready to Burn certifies, and check it yourself with a moisture meter. Burnley, which we reported last week, is consulting on the same borough-wide approach until 11 December. Source: City of York Council.

Budget suspends the 4% tariff on heating oil from 26 November

The Budget on 28 October suspended the 4% import tariff on kerosene heating oil. The Budget document says the suspension starts on 26 November 2026 and runs until 31 December 2028, which the Treasury ties to the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on energy prices. The Treasury’s regional releases say it will help 142,000 households in Scotland and 105,000 in Wales that heat with oil, and 61% of households in Northern Ireland. The government has not said how much of the cut it expects to reach the price on your delivery note.

The Budget also confirmed a £100 Household Energy Payment for households in council tax bands A to D in England from January 2027, and extended the zero rate of VAT on household electricity to 1 July 2027.

Meanwhile the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland’s weekly survey put 900 litres of heating oil at £1,023.32 on 29 October, 47p lower than last week’s £1,023.79 and a third week above £1,000. A year ago, on 30 October 2025, the same order averaged £492.92.

Why it matters: if a stove takes load off an oil boiler, the case for burning logs this winter rests on oil staying above £1,000 for 900 litres, and a 4% tariff cut, even if passed on in full, would not change that much. The firewood heat comparison calculator puts logs and oil side by side at your own prices. Sources: HM Treasury, Budget 2026, HM Treasury, Scotland release, Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, heating oil price archive.

Warm Homes Loans of up to £20,000 cover biomass boilers

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero launched the Warm Homes Loan Scheme on 27 October. It offers government-backed no- and low-interest loans across the UK for home energy upgrades, from ten lenders at launch, some with up to 30 years to repay. The maximum loan for a biomass boiler is £20,000, the same as for an air-to-water heat pump. Every installation except a heat network connection must be done by an MCS-certified installer.

HETAS, the solid fuel certification body, pointed out on 28 October that a loan can be combined with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, whose grant for a biomass boiler is £5,000 in England and Wales, not the £9,000 headline figure, which applies to heat pumps. The biomass grant is only for off-gas-grid rural properties, and the boiler needs an emissions certificate.

Why it matters: this is for whole-house biomass heating, not a room stove; a wood burner does not qualify. If you are off the gas grid and weighing a pellet or log boiler against a heat pump, ask each lender whether it funds biomass, because the government list does not say which do. Sources: DESNZ factsheet, HETAS.

Trade bodies ask Northern Ireland for a legal moisture limit on firewood

Northern Ireland’s consultation on its first Clean Air Strategy, which we covered when it opened in September, closed on 27 October. HETAS and Woodsure published their joint response on 28 October. They want a legal moisture standard for firewood sold in Northern Ireland, a definition of “unseasoned wood” by moisture content, and a named, funded enforcement body. The draft strategy only proposes a call for evidence on restricting coal, manufactured solid fuels and wet wood by the end of 2027; the response notes that 82% of people answering DAERA’s 2022 consultation backed banning retail sales of unseasoned wood. Nothing changes for stove owners yet, and the draft does not propose banning wood burners.

On 29 October HETAS also reported on an industry day it ran with Woodsure on 8 October about Defra’s proposals for England, which closed for consultation in March. Defra has still not published its response. The proposals include tighter smoke limits for new stoves after a lead-in of three to five years, which would not affect stoves already installed, higher fines for selling wet wood, and health warning labels. The view from the room was that higher fines mean little without enforcement.

Why it matters: in both places the direction is toward rules on what is sold, not what you already own. Buying wood that is already dry, and checking it, keeps you ahead of any change; our firewood buying guide and what moisture firewood should be cover how. Sources: HETAS, Northern Ireland response, HETAS, Burning Questions.