Sadiq Khan is considering a ban on log burners in parts of London as part of a fresh drive to improve the capital’s air quality.
Wood-burning stoves have become a sought-after feature in many middle-class British homes in recent years, joining Aga cookers and Smeg refrigerators as fashionable household status symbols.
However, London residents who have fitted wood stoves into their fireplaces — often spending between £2,000 and £4,000 — could be required to remove them under proposals being considered by the Mayor of London.
Lord Khan is seeking to enforce the restrictions through new zero-emission zones, with bans tailored to specific areas of the city.
The potential log burner restrictions form part of a wider package of emissions-cutting measures, which also proposes tighter limits on domestic bonfires.
Yet the mayor faces obstacles in bringing in the measures, as his existing powers do not provide a straightforward route to impose such a broad clampdown.
At present, local councils can designate smoke control areas and prohibit bonfires on council-owned land, including allotments.
Those rules generally bar the use of particular fuels, including wet wood. Homeowners can usually still burn seasoned dry logs in modern wood-burning stoves, provided the appliances comply with efficiency requirements.
Sadiq Khan is exploring a log burner ban that could leave London homeowners, many of whom paid £2,000 to £4,000 for wood stoves, facing the prospect of removing them.
Log burners have emerged as a popular middle-class home feature in Britain, following earlier trends for Aga cookers and Smeg refrigerators.
Lord Khan is asking the Government to devolve additional powers to him and other local authority leaders while urging ministers to ‘go further’ in their efforts to clamp down on so-called ‘solid fuel burning’.
He has argued that the current rules are hindering his efforts to reduce emissions while also claiming that small increases in solid-fuel burning can lead to disproportionate harm to health.
Labour have already mulled fresh restrictions on wood-burning stoves in a bid to bring emission targets in line with the EU.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Sir James Cleverly accused Lord Khan of intruding into people’s lives.
He said: ‘Londoners need a mayor who will put policing our streets before policing our homes and gardens, prioritising getting things built over having a row with people about log burners.
‘Instead of finding new ways to tie up London and Londoners in new red tape and bans, we need to unshackle London’s potential and build a safer, cheaper, and more ambitious city we can be proud of again.’
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During his tenure as mayor, Lord Khan has focused on cutting emissions across the capital.
These include the expansion of London’s ultra-low-emission zone (ULEZ), and his backing of ‘active travel’ policies such as low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and giving over more of the road network to cyclists.
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Sir James Cleverly, who has his eyes on the Tory nomination for Mayor in the 2028 election, accused Lord Khan of intruding into people’s lives
However, the expansion of ULEZ into areas of car-dependent outer London has angered many voters who accused Lord Khan of launching a war on motorists.
In June, the Daily Mail found that ULEZ had not improved the air quality in the Big Smoke as the Mayor had claimed.
Last year, the Mayor of London credited the £12.50-per-day ultra low emission zone with bringing levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) across the capital to within legal limits for the first time.
But analysis of official air quality figures from local authorities suggests more than half of all boroughs are still recording illegal levels of the toxic gas, which is largely emitted from diesel vehicles.
The NO2 is an annual average of 40 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/m3) of air. Last year, a report from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs claimed London fell wholly within this limit for 2024.
However, at least 18 areas of the capital are still recording annual average levels above this at individual monitoring stations.
One in the centre of Romford recorded an annualised average almost twice the limit in 2024, as did several stations in the City of London – where ULEZ was introduced seven years ago.
In June, a spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: ‘London’s ULEZ, the world’s largest clean air zone, has been a huge success in cleaning up London’s air, with harmful roadside NO2 concentrations now 24 per cent lower in outer London compared to without the ULEZ in place.
‘Air quality data from Defra shows that London met legal limits for nitrogen dioxide for the first time in 2024.
‘We know the damage that air pollution can cause to the health of Londoners so we always look at all the data available in the capital to get a clear picture of the work that still needs to be done.
‘All Londoners are now breathing much cleaner air, but there is still more to do and the Mayor will continue to take action as we build a greener, fairer London for everyone.’