A ‘woke‘ council has been warned by the advertising watchdog over claims wood-burning stoves are ‘cosy killers’ that produce deadly air pollution.
Brighton & Hove City Council launched a campaign in December against the use of stoves and open fires amid statements that they create a particularly dangerous form of air pollution known as PM2.5s.
‘Scaremongering’ billboards stated the stoves produced more small-particle emissions than road traffic in the whole of the UK and were behind the deaths of ‘one in 20 people over the age of 30’.
But after receiving complaints, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) issued a warning to the council that such claims cannot be made if they are not ‘backed up by adequate evidence.’
Owners of wood-burning stoves said the clean air campaign led to ‘a climate of fear and intimidation’ in which they were named and shamed and verbally abused in the street.
Chimney sweeps in Brighton and Hove also reported they had been asked to park away from the homes of their customers for fear of alerting neighbours to the presence of a wood-burning stove.
Critics of the ‘misleading’ Cosy Killer campaign add that it forced many elderly people to go cold this winter.
Brighton resident Molly, 68, said: ‘I was so worried about using my wood burner. I felt I was being shamed by the council, so instead of lighting it I piled on my woollen clothes.
Brighton & Hove City Council has been warned by the Advertising Standards Agency over its ‘cosy killer’ campaign launched over the winter months
Andy Genovese, who runs Hove Wood Burners, said the ASA warning vindicated his belief the campaign fell foul of the watchdog’s guidelines
Mr Genovese said candles, air fryers and toasters are ‘far more problematic’ than wood burners in terms of producing particulates in the home
‘As a result my house was really cold and I seemed to catch more winter bugs. I’m not happy with the council at all.
‘It was misleading and unnecessarily woke and they created a ‘them and us’ scenario, pitting neighbour against neighbour.’
Another elderly resident said: ‘I rely on my wood burner in the winter because gas and electricity is just so expensive these days.
‘We live in fuel poverty and yet you have the council being alarmist about the effects of using wood burners.
‘We used it only sparingly as a result but we were cold all winter. It’s a classic case of council scaremongering and it’s not fair.’
Despite the concerns raised by the Cosy Killer campaign, wood burners are legal to use in the UK and some 1.5million homes across the nation are estimated to have them installed.
Andy Genovese, who runs Hove Wood Burners, said the ASA warning vindicated his belief the campaign fell foul of the watchdog’s guidelines.
He said: ‘In conducting such a campaign they have harmed small local solid fuel businesses, domestic manufacturers and a genuinely innovative British success story.
Wood burners are legal to use in the UK and some 1.5million homes across the nation are estimated to have them installed (file pic)
Owners of wood-burning stoves in Brighton and Hove said the clean air campaign led to ‘a climate of fear and intimidation’ in which they were verbally abused in the street (file pic)
‘The council has wilfully misinterpreted scientific studies into air pollution and waged war on wood stoves.
‘If they had read beyond the headlines of the studies they would have found candles, air fryers and toasters are far more problematic in terms of particulates in the home.
‘The studies they cited show wood stoves sit well within the Government safety margins while a host of other household activities clearly do not.’
He added: ‘As regards air pollution outside the home, eco-design stoves account for less than five per cent of airborne particulates, less than cigarette smoke and considerably less than road traffic.
‘It is hard to come to any conclusion other than the council are either very poorly advised or they had another agenda when this misconceived campaign was launched. It looks like a waste of taxpayers’ money.’
A spokesperson for the ASA confirmed it had received a complaint about the campaign.
She said: ‘We wrote to the advertiser with an Advice Notice, explaining that if consumers are likely to understand a claim as an objective one, then advertisers are required to hold adequate supporting evidence to substantiate said claim.
‘We told Brighton and Hove city council that they shouldn’t make objective claims in relation to the effects of wood burners and open fires if those claims can’t be backed up by adequate evidence.
The pollutants – PM2.5s – are said to be worse than all of the UK’s road traffic put together
‘We issue an Advice Notice where we consider there are potential problems under our advertising rules but do not consider the issues raised are so significant as to warrant a full formal investigation.’
Councillor Tim Rowkins, cabinet member for Net Zero and Environmental Services at Brighton & Hove City Council, said: ‘All the statements included in this campaign were substantiated with DEFRA or Public Health England references, based on research which is available in the public domain, and which have now been added to our website.
‘Wood burning stoves and open fires are a risk to public health, particularly in cities.
‘We have a duty as a local authority to make people aware of this and will continue to do so.’
Particulate pollution is widely agreed to be the air pollutant with the biggest impact on human health, increasing the risk of respiratory and heart conditions, as well as hospital admissions.
Children growing up exposed to particulate pollution are more likely to have reduced lung function and can develop asthma as the tiny particles penetrate the lungs and enter into the bloodstream.
