Burning issue of coal and wood fire crackdown will affect rural areas most: The Yorkshire Post says

Rural residents, in particular, will feel a sense of grievance at the Government’s crackdown on open fires.

Warning rural poor ‘will freeze in their homes’ over coal and wet wood ban

The countryside is where woodburners are most popular, thanks to a plentiful supply of fuel, and its people might well consider themselves to have been unfairly targeted, because Britain’s most polluted places are its cities.

The Government risks accusations that it is pointing a finger of blame for pollution at the wrong people, by targeting householders rather than industry.

After all, Britain is still burning coal to generate power and plans to do so until 2024. And the country’s first new deep coal mine for decades, in Cumbria, is soon to start production.

Nevertheless, there is consensus between the Government and public on the need to reduce pollution for all our sakes, and households have their part to play in that.

Emissions cause serious health problems, and the country wants to see them minimised.

Viewed in that light, the Government’s measures appear sensible. It has not attempted to ban stoves or open fires, which would have been deeply unpopular and impossible to police.

The new restrictions will allow the burning of dry wood and manufactured solid fuel when household coal is no longer sold, and that means the comfort of a roaring fire remains with us for a wee while yet.