• THE Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the heating appliance regulator HETAS websites both list huge numbers of wood stoves which have been approved for log-burning in smoke control areas such as Camden, (Town Hall warning for wood-burning stove users, August 2).

These modern stoves have an air inlet which can’t be closed, so the firebox burns hotter and very few particulates go up the flue – unlike old stoves which can be “damped down” and smoulder; or even worse, open hearths. It is old, cold flues which put out the most particulates.

Stoves and open hearths need to be connected to a relined flue which will get and stay hot and have a good airflow. It’s illegal to burn coal at all, and stove logs have to be well dried. Wood which has been painted or treated must never be burnt.

To improve Camden’s air quality, councillors Heather Johnson and Adam Harrison – with the help of the fire brigade – should be targeting homeowners who are burning anything other than approved smokeless fuel in an open hearth, or using any flue which doesn’t have a modern liner, or using an old polluting stove which doesn’t have a DEFRA certificate for use in clean air zones. That would do more to clean up our air than any amount of ill-informed posturing.

MIKE WELLS
N19