Updated
Check whether your address is in one
Wigan Council publish a map of the borough's smoke control areas, linked at the bottom of this page. It is worth checking before you choose a stove, not after. If you are in St Helens or elsewhere, your own council's environmental services team can tell you.
What the rules say
In a smoke control area you cannot release smoke from a chimney, and you can only burn authorised fuels — unless the appliance is one approved by Defra, known as an exempt appliance.
In England you can be given a penalty of up to £300 if your chimney releases smoke in a smoke control area, and fined up to £1,000 for buying unauthorised fuel to burn in an appliance that is not exempt.
Your two options
Burn an authorised smokeless fuel. Defra keep the list of authorised fuels; anthracite, semi-anthracite and low volatile steam coal are also allowed.
Or fit an exempt appliance — a stove Defra have approved to burn wood in a smoke control area. You must then only burn the fuels its manufacturer says it can use. Defra publish the list of exempt appliances, and it is the first thing we check when someone in a smoke control area asks us about a wood burner.
Wherever you live: burn dry wood
Wet wood smokes, wastes heat and coats the flue faster, which means more sweeping and more wear on the stove. Wigan Council's advice is to buy retail bags of firewood labelled 'Ready to Burn' by a certified supplier — wood dried enough to burn cleanly.