SNP's wood-burner ban plan couldn't survive the heat

And so the SNP’s ban on wood-burning stoves in new-build homes has gone up in a puff of smoke, consigned to the bonfire of failed policies which seems to perpetually burn on the outskirts of Holyrood.  

Now future Scots will be able to cuddle up in front of a roaring fire, instead of doing star jumps to keep warm when winter’s storms have knocked out the electricity.  

‘A victory for commonsense’, the Scottish Conservatives declared. ‘A positive step,’ The Scottish Islands Federation agreed.  

It’s a move that really shouldn’t have had to be taken at all.  

When the regulations known as the New Build Heat Standard came into effect in April, the backlash over sudden outlawing of wood-burners in all new properties caught ministers by surprise.  

Hard-pressed spin-doctors in the Scottish Government’s communications department scrambled to get abreast of the legislation which had come into force, learning on the fly as they tried to work out what all the fuss was about.   

Wood-burning stoves are here to stay (Image: Getty Images) The problem was simple. While those in the cosy central belt rarely have to deal with the heat going off when the winds blow strong, for people in rural areas it’s an entirely different story. 

Kate Forbes, then simply the MSP for Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch and yet top take her seat at the top table as Deputy First Minister, said she was “seeking urgent clarification” from the Scottish Government. 

She tweeted: "I see many replies dismissing legit concerns cos “everybody should have known about this already” & it’s only for new builds.  My inbox suggests most in rural Scotland disagree." 

This was a problem all of the Scottish Government’s own making. The alliance with the Scottish Green Party spawned a lot of hot air, but it also saw the fast-tracking of moves to decarbonise buildings at lightning pace.  

As the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Patrick Harvie led the charge, setting an ambitious target of decarbonising 1 million homes by 2030. By the end of last year, he had admitted that goal was not possible. 

But the push to consign logburners to history hung on – to be phased out in favour of  'zero DEH' systems such as heat pumps, solar thermal storage systems or electric storage heaters.  

Patrick Harvie (Image: PA) No-one listened to voices in the Highlands and islands who said that none of these were practical solutions in places where staying on the grid can be an aspiration, and never something to be taken for granted.  

These were not academic concerns – In 2023, Storm Gerrit caused power outages to around 27,000 homes in the North of Scotland, while a survey from Consumer Scotland found that “87 per cent of consumers in accessible rural parts of Scotland, and 96% of consumers in remote rural areas, experienced a power cut in the past two years, compared to 67% of respondents in Scotland and 64% of respondents in the UK”. 

Under the regulations, some new builds were permitted to have wood-burning heating for emergency purposed only, but there was scant information on what might constitute such a crisis.  

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Even then, there was to be no reprieve for small buildings, with burners ruled out entirely in favour of ‘portable’ small alternatives. What these were, or how they could work when there was no power, was not disclosed.  

Announcing the end of the ban, Alasdair Allan, acting minister for climate action said that the Scottish Government had “listened” to rural communities. 

But it’s never a good look when Ministers have to reverse course. Governments stand and fall by appearing confident and competent, able to convince the public they know what they are doing.

Too many U-turns and people begin to suspect that it’s all smoke and mirrors. Now the ban joins a long list of reversed decisions from Holyrood’s corridors of power.  

Juryless rape trials? Sent down. Highly-protected Marine Areas? Sunk without trace. Bottle deposit scheme? Smashed to smithereens.  

Even the SNP’s vaunted emissions targets, where the plan was to cut carbon emissions by 75 percent by 2030, have been flipped.  

Now the plan is to get to net zero by 2045. We’ll see how that pans out.  

It’s sometimes good for governments to change their policies. On one hand, it shows agile thinking and the ability to listen.  

But rip up too many plans and the brains behind them begin to appear incompetent. And sometimes there’s no smoke without fire.