Scottish householders hit by new ban on wood burning stoves. 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. Now, it goes without saying that in urban areas it makes no sense whatsoever to have a woodburning stove. Every time I pass an Edinburgh house or flat with logs stacked by the door, I feel like throwing a brick through their window. Despite the variety of heating options available, why do so many city dwellers persist with the archaic practice of burning wood to ward off the chill? Do you really need to ask? The soaring popularity in recent decades of wood burning stoves lies in their atavistic and aesthetic appeal. Thanks in part to the Nordic notion of hygge, they have become a lifestyle essential for those who want to emulate the backwoods life, despite Waitrose being just around the corner. Sadly, until a better alternative is available, many of us in rural and island districts are reliant, somewhat shamefacedly, on oil for our central heating. The consequence of that, as I know from my frostbitten fingers, is such a reluctance to switch on the radiators, even during the depths of winter, that unexpected guests keep their bobble hats and mittens on for the duration of their visit.