Misery in Herefordshire

My wife and I hate the colder autumn and winter days and nights because of the many wood-burning stoves in our street and surrounding area. We are both constantly suffering from asthma and chest infections that never clear up. The filthy air we have to put up with has exacerbated the flu and COVID we have both had.

Smoke rises from a chimney at night. — Smoke from a nearby chimney at night.

This winter, 2025/26, the retired couple next door burn day and night. I’m sure we both have heavy metal poisoning as well as the lung problems. My wife has heart disease. I have chronic fatigue, nerve pain, and lung damage.

I work outside mainly, so am exposed to the air pollution 8–10 hours a day. It’s affecting our physical and mental health.

I’ve had words with the neighbours, but they were adamant the local authorities were happy with their appliances. We fell out with them.

We have put draught excluding [insulation] on every door and window, but smoke still gets in and leaves a brown dust on all the surfaces in the house.

Life is quite miserable for us in the winter. Even our cats get breathing problems and their fur smells of smoke when they’ve been outside for no more than 10 minutes.

A hand holds a portable air monitor inside a car that shows unhealthy air quality. — A portable air monitor reflects the air quality on a smoky day.

Wood-burning stoves need to be BANNED forever. There is an epidemic of them being fitted in the UK at the moment—some estimates around 8 million. That’s a lot of smoke being produced.

We [also] have a massive problem with a chicken farm burning rubbish in biomass boilers.

During the day pollution levels are just about bearable. But evenings are the problem. I have a portable monitor and a fixed monitor with IQ Air. Have been monitoring the air for five years. It’s getting worse in Hereford and beyond.