City council asking people in Lancaster and Morecambe using log burners to help reduce air pollution

A spokesperson for Lancaster City Council said: “For some people, the only way to heat their homes is via an open fire or log burner.

"Unfortunately, we see a drop in air quality across the district at this time of year due to the increase use in domestic fires.

"The air quality in the district is improving on the whole, but in the winter months there is a rise in the common air pollutant PM2.5, mainly due to the use of domestic burning of fires and wood burners used to heat the home.

“Air pollution is currently the number one environmental risk to human health in the UK.

"As with your heating where turning the temperature down can make a small difference to climate change, just tweaking the length of time you have your log burner on while using good quality dried wood can help to improve this and the local air quality.

“We're not expecting people to leave them off if they need them as a primary source of heating, but do you really need to use yours or could you reduce the amount of time it is on?

“Small changes will help to improve our air quality over the winter months.”