With Angus Council banning heating appliances using solid carbon fuels and gas in all its properties, Herald columnist Rosemary Goring asks if this signals the end for the wood burning stove.

In what will soon be seen, I suspect, as a landmark decision, the coalition-led Angus Council has this week approved stringent restrictions on wood burning stoves and other forms of heating that burn carbon fuels. Henceforth, it is imposing a ban on replacing or installing open flued appliances that burn wood, coal, coke or gas, and will be compiling a register of all properties with such apparatus.

Hang on, though. Before you rush into the garden to throw a camouflage net over your tell-tale log stack, fret not. This Angus policy does not apply – as yet! – to private properties, but only to council buildings and houses. Justification for this new directive includes protecting tenants from carbon monoxide fumes and the fire hazard such heating poses, as well as reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality.

In terms of the environment, there’s no arguing that this is an enlightened move, and one that other councils will doubtless consider implementing. Before they do, however, it should be pointed out that it is not quite as simple an issue as Angus’s leaders might hope.

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Nobody can deny that the manner in which we heat our homes represents a challenge in the race to net zero. According to Scottish government figures, household heating accounts for 15% of our annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Now, it goes without........

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