SNP ministers have scrapped a controversial ban on installing woodburning stoves in new homes after a huge backlash in rural Scotland forced a “humiliating” about-turn.
Alasdair Allan, the Climate Action Minister, said he had listened to concerns from rural and island communities that they relied on woodburners during power cuts and bad weather.
The Government also acknowledged that alternative energy supplies for people affected by the ban could be “more polluting” than the woodburners.
Mr Allan has now tabled an amendment to regulations overturning a previous ban on the stoves, along with bioenergy and peat heating, in new homes and buildings.
The about-turn came as the Scottish Government published a review of the ban, which described how islanders often stock up with months’ worth of wood and peat to protect themselves against “fluctuating electricity prices”.
Scottish Government figures show three times more households in remote rural areas are classed as in extreme fuel poverty, where households which spend more than 20 per cent of their net income on fuel, than elsewhere in the country.
The review also noted that a wood supply “doesn’t rely on ferries or weather and could be clean, affordable and accessible for residents”, and can be used as a back-up source of heat “when current oil and electric supplies fail”.
It warned that additional electric heating on Fair Isle, which is halfway between Orkney and the Shetland mainland, would have to be powered through backup diesel generators. This would be “more polluting” than oil boilers or woodburners.
The Scottish Tories praised the U-turn as a “victory for common sense” but accused SNP ministers of being “completely detached from the realities facing these areas” when they imposed the ban, which came into effect on April 1.
Introduced by Humza Yousaf’s SNP-Green government, it was designed to cut Scotland’s carbon emissions but provoked fury in rural communities that do not have access to a mains gas supply. Many rely on log burners to heat their homes.
Although the rules had no impact on homes that already have a woodburning stove, they also applied to people looking to convert an existing property.
Jamie Halcro Johnston, the Scottish Tories’ shadow minister for the islands, said: “A ban on woodburning stoves would have had a devastating effect on our rural and island communities.
“SNP ministers who are completely detached from the realities facing these areas failed to recognise their importance, especially in periods of extreme weather.
“I applaud people living and working in rural and island Scotland for making their voices heard and forcing the SNP into confirming this humiliating U-turn at long last.”
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes attacked the ban when she was on the SNP’s backbenches during Humza Yousaf’s tenure as first minister.
The Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP said that many of the SNP’s rural policies had “gone down like a lead balloon” in the north of Scotland and the woodburner ban was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.
After John Swinney appointed her his deputy in May, she announced the policy was being reviewed, saying she understood “very, very starkly why people would be concerned”. In September, Dr Allan temporarily suspended the ban pending the outcome of the review.
The new amendment to the regulations permits the installation of bioenergy and peat main heating systems – and any type of secondary heating systems – in new buildings from Jan 1. However, mains gas and oil boilers remain banned.
Unveiling the revised New Build Heat Standard, Dr Allan said: “We have listened to concerns from rural and island communities about resilience in times of bad weather or power outages, as well as the wider use of bioenergy and peat for other reasons.
“These changes address these concerns whilst retaining the spirit of the original legislation, which aims to eradicate polluting gas and oil boilers from new homes and buildings.”
Anna Gardner, policy advisor on rural property for Scottish Land & Estates, welcomed the change, saying: “Due to the lack of infrastructure in many rural parts of Scotland, there are few low carbon options for people to heat their homes other than through wood burners or biomass heating systems.
“There may come a time in future when such systems can be replaced by zero-emission heating systems but it is abundantly clear that capability is not here yet, especially in rural areas.”
