Actions you can take
Here’s some actions you can take yourself to improve the air quality in your area.
Write to your MSP and insist that action be taken on the pollution caused by wood burning stoves. Find out who your MSP is here
Write to your MP and insist that action must be taken to ban the pollution caused by wood burning. Find out who your MP is here. England and Wales are much further ahead than Scotland when it comes to this issue having already banned the sale of coal, wet wood and manufactured solid fuels.
Join Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland and help campaign for an up to date Clean Air Act and write to them to ensure that a wood burning ban is included in any Clean Air Act that is introduced
Email magazines and tv shows that promote wood burning stoves and fire pits as design features. Mums For Lungs have an excellent template letter that can be adjusted for that at the bottom of this page here.
Respond to newspaper articles that run articles on wood burning and point out how hazardous it is for our health and the environment.
Reply to social media posts that promote wood burning and point out how bad it is for everyone’s health and for the environment.
Have a conversation with neighbours about wood burning. See this article from Impact on Urban Health for guidance on how to do that.
- Contact your local Air Quality Officer at the Environmental Health Department of your Local Authority and your local Councillor. Refer them to this guide that will give them some ideas on effective messaging to raise awareness amongst the public of the harm from woodsmoke and it’s impact on air quality
Send us your story and experience of living with wood burning. Email us here
Like, follow and share our facebook posts
There are 32 local authorities in Scotland and none of them collect information on how many wood burning stoves and open fireplaces are being used across Scotland and there is no requirement for them to do so.
They also have no idea what fuels are being used in any of these appliances or how much pollution is being caused by them and again there is no requirement for them to do so.
Currently anyone can physically install a wood burning stove as there is no legal requirement for a suitably qualified engineer to install one.
Local authorites vary on how they record complaints from the public regarding wood smoke from wood burning stoves, fire pits and chimineas, therefore is is impossible to get an accurate picture of the number of complaints received and the number of people affected. However, from our FOI request to local authorities we can confirm that thousands of complaints have been received over the past 5 years regarding wood smoke pollution with only 2 local authorities saying that they have received no complaints. What was clear from our FOI requests however is that smoke from domestic wood burning affecrs all communities whether they be urban, suburban, semi-rural or rural.
Information, advice and guidelines to the public on the installation and use of wood burning appliances, types of fuel, impacts on neighbours etc. varies greatly amongst local authorities. Some local authorities have very thorough information on their websites and others have very little or none. What they all have in common however is that none of them can legally enforce any of the recommendations or advice on their website as there is no legislation around the issue of woodsmoke pollution that can be used*. Some local authorities recommend that consideration be given to neighbours when a wood burning stove is installed, but it means only that. Consideration. From speaking with our members, their experience has been that if their neighbours have given any consideration to them being affected by the smoke, the consideration was brief, fleeting and quickly dismissed.
*Excessive smoke produced frequently can be considered a statutory nuisance
Planning permission to install a wood burning appliance in your home is currently not required as planning permission is normally not required for internal work. In rare instances, permission may need to be sought for the height of the flue, for example, if one were being added onto a listed building but generally flues can and are installed with no consideration for neighbouring properties.
This strategy sets out the policy framework for air quality in Scotland up until 2026 and includes a comprehensive list of ten policy areas upon which action will be taken.
Outlined below in bold is what the Scottish Government believe and hope to achieve regarding all aspects of domestic solid fuel burning, followed by what steps they have taken to achieve this and and what further steps they intend to undertake in the near future.
1.The Scottish Government, in developing policies and programmes to support households and businesses in transitioning to low-carbon heating solutions will consider the needs of those affected by controls on the supply of the most polluting domestic fuels.
To this end, an evidence report for the regulations to ban the sale of house coal and high sulphur fuels and the impacts on the industries involved in this.
2.The Scottish Government will encourage uptake of Ecodesign stoves through Ecodesign Ready and other initiatives, along with consideration of how best to address widespread replacement of pre Ecodesign appliances.
To this end the Scottish Government looked at the James Hutton Institute report which examined the behaviours behind why people burn wood. (see table below)
| Behaviours | Capability Factors | Opportunity Factors | Motivation Factors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burning less at home | Lack of knowledge of impacts | Access to cleaner energy | Cost of switching energy source |
| Policy and regulatory environment | Environmental motivations | ||
| Comfort and aesthetics |
Based on the findings of 2 behavioural studies (Burki, 2018; Kantar, 2020,) the report identified 2 behaviour changes that it believes people will adopt –
- burning less
- burning better (including the use of more efficient stoves alongside better fuels)
On 13 May a domestic emissions focused public engagement workshop was set up to discuss incorporating these key behaviours within a public engagement framework which is due to be completed during 2024. This workshop was attended by many industry representatives making it’s objectivity questionable.
3.The Scottish Government will commission work to provide further evidence on the proportion of particulate matter emissions and other key pollutants attributable to domestic burning in Scotland, together with geographic and demographic distribution of domestic burning.
To this end, a research project led by Scotland’s Rural College is focusing on urban air pollution issues, particularly domestic combustion, its effects on particulate matter and the consequences for human health. It will also look at the geographical distribution of combustion and types of fuel used. So far the project has conducted field sampling campaigns at two field sites in Edinburgh (smoke controlled urban) and Fife (rural) to assess the contribution of domestic biomass burning to PM2.5. The project is due to complete in 2026.
4.The Scottish Government, with local authorities will consider what changes are needed to the current permitted development rights for flues for woodburning stoves and biomass boilers.
To this end, the scottish government consulted on the review of permitted development rights (PDR) between May and August 2023. The consultation sought views on potential changes to the current PDR for flues for woodburning stoves and biomass boilers. They have considered the consultation responses and further work is underway to look at how more geographically targeted changes to permitted development rights for certain domestic flues for wood burning stoves and biomass boilers could help address the issues of nuisance and air quality.
5.The Scottish Government will work with local government and SEPA to consider revision of the Clean Air Act 1993.
To this end, initial conversations have taken place with SEPA and local authorities to review the Clean Air Act 1993.
6.The Scottish Government will take forward, working with businesses that may be affected and other interested parties, potential measures to control the supply of the most polluting domestic fuels – including a ban on house coal, restricting the sulphur content of smokeless fuels to 2%, prohibiting the sale of certain types of wet wood and introduction of a minimum renewables content for manufactured smokeless fuels. They will take into consideration the fact that these changes must be implemented over a period of time, such as a transitional period during which businesses could adapt to the new requirements without disproportionate costs.
To this end, the following report has been published and further discussions are being held with the Domestic Emissions Working Group.
A Health Research Report published in October 2023 has improved our understanding of health impacts caused by air pollution and will in turn inform policy development.
In July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly declared that access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment was a universal human right.
Last year, the Scottish Government began a consultation on a Human Rights Bill for Scotland. This will include the right to breathe clean air. They have committed to passing a Scottish Human Rights Bill by May 2026.
Domestic fuel combustion from wood burning stoves makes a substantial contribution to air pollution and must be included in the new bill as a significant contributory cause to poor air quality.
Powers must also be given to individuals who are having their right to breathe clean air taken away from them because of woodsmoke pollution caused by people and businesses nearby.
Read more about what is the right to a healthy environment here
We will be campaigning to:
Ensure that wood smoke pollution is acknowledged as a significant cause of air pollution that causes serious health problems for everyone.
Ensure that legal action can be taken by individuals who are having their right to breathe clean air taken away from them by the persistent practice of wood burning by neighbours and businesses nearby.