We were shocked when the Scottish Government announced they would not ban the installation of woodburning stoves in new builds after previously stating that they would.
We were even more shocked to learn that this u-turn was the result of a “debate” recorded in May in the Scottish Parliament. A “debate” where representatives from the Stove Industry Association were permitted to give a presentation to MSPs prior to the “debate”. This part interestingly was not recorded. Usually debates consist of two opposing sides putting their case forward. This was not the case here as no one was present to counter the misinformation in the statements that were made by the manufacturing and industry representatives.
One MSP even states during the debate that “We are here today to debate this topic due to significant lobbying from manufacturers…”. We are currently investigating who was involved in this lobbying and and how frequently meetings with lobbyists took place. We do know for a fact that lobbying took place.
Asthma and Lung UK Scotland has shown that NHS Scotland spends approximately £500 million each year on lung diseases which are exacerbated by domestic solid fuel burning. They published a report on the health and environmental impacts of domestic burning in Scotland and distributed this information to all scottish MSPs.
Despite this report and the overwhelming evidence from around the world of the harm to health that is caused by woodsmoke pollution, the Scottish Government have decided to dismiss these proven health concerns and have instead put the financial interests of a few businesses ahead of public health.