Try the EA?
Have you told the council it is affecting your sons asthma?
Tell him to stick his garden rubbish in a black bag rather than burning it?
Round here the council collect all recyclables & waste FOC, provide as many plastic, paper/card, food & garden waste receptacles you need.
However, you have to buy your own black bags if you use more than the allowance they give you.

It can be a tricky one, one mans pleasure is another mans poison!

You firstly suggest that the neighbour is burning household waste but subsequently refer to garden waste. Household waste is collected free by the LA, so there is no need to burn this. Garden waste isn't a statutory, but rather a discretionary function of the LA.

Regardless, 'bonfires' can be very unpleasant and have a detrimental affect on those in the surrounding area. It MIGHT be a statutory nuisance, although you should be aware that 'nuisance' is highly subjective and determined by a number of different factors such as frequency, time of the day etc.

If you feel that it is a nuisance, then your first step is to enter into 'friendly' and non-confrontational dialogue with the neighbour to explain the problem and try to suggest/reach a compromise, rather than telling them to stop. You are more likely to get a result if you keep it non confrontational. You should also be reasonable and keep things in proportion i.e. you may have to accept that an occasional bonfire is inevitable. If this fails then you should contact the pollution team at your local council to explain the situation and seek further advice.

*I meant garden waste (not household waste). Oh for an edit button :-)

Firesafety101 - Firstly commiserations about the anti-social neighbour.

If other neighbours suffer in the same ways as you, hopefully they'll also make their views known to the neighbour and have a greater collective influence on him than just you as one individual. However, depending on what he's like as a person, others might understandably feel reluctant to approach him.

If he's burning household waste, it would be worth asking if he does it because his bin gets overfilled and results in the local collectors rightfully rejecting it because of problems with the emptying mechanism of their vehicle.

From observations of various overfilled wheelie bins and also static bins, it's evident to me that many simply become full because users make no attempt to flatten space-guzzling items such as boxes, milk cartons and other plastic containers. It's not difficult to flatten such items. For example, if a small amount of hot water is poured inside a plastic milk carton and then tipped away, the plastic becomes soft enough to enable it to be considerably flattened and then retain its new shape after it cools. Also, many of the non-recyclable plastic trays and containers in which food is sold nowadays readily flatten on their accord when a small amount of boiling water is poured into or on them. (In anticipation that some forum users may respond to say that this method is dangerous, please consider first how you manage with kettles and boiling water to make hot drinks at home, especially if there are young children around!) Therefore, if the neighbour has problems with volumes of waste which seem to exceed his bin capacity, try suggesting volume-reducing measures like those above to "avoid the void".

The situation you describe sadly exemplifies a phenomenon by which increasing numbers of people in the UK know their rights in great detail but choose to ignore their responsibilities and consideration for others. Anyhow, hope you and other affected neighbours ultimately have success with the neighbour.

With the best will in the world, I don't think most (any?) council will need to be reminded of this; it will almost certainly be 'bread and butter' to them! Realistically, I don't think that these regs are for the most part 'concerned' with people having bonfires for garden waste.

If disputes such as this are not able to be settled by mutual agreement, then contact the pollution team at your local council, who may be able to advise, arbitrate or if they believe that there may be a statutory nuisance, potentially take action.

if you complain to the local authority EHO smoke is classed as a statutory nuisance under the EPA and they are required (by law) to investigate on your behalf.

Not saying do it - just saying what is.... it is the same for noise from neighbours.

Do be aware, that neither smoke nor noise are a statutory nuisance in themselves. Nuisance is highly subjective and is dependant upon a number of factors such as duration, frequency, time of the day etc etc. While the LA has a duty to investigate, they may not determine that a nuisance exists.