Labour must fulfil promise to introduce clean air act, charities urge | Air pollution

Ministers should introduce a new clean air law that would ban wood heating, remove diesel vehicles from the roads and force local councils to reduce pollution, a group of more than 60 charities urged ahead of the king’s speech on Wednesday.

Labor had raised the prospect of a Clean Air Act while in opposition in 2023, but it was removed from the final election manifesto and the government took no action to reinstate it.

Jemima Hartshorn, founder and director of the charity Mums for Lungs, one of the groups behind the letter, said: “Dirty air is the biggest environmental health risk in this country. Air pollution costs us around £27 billion a year and is linked to asthma, wheezing, cancer and dementia. Dirty air harms us all, and it harms the economy too. However, we know how to solve this problem.”

The call, launched by organizations with more than 230,000 members, comes as one of the country’s leading pollution and health experts urges ministers to ban wood heating in urban areas. Stephen Holgate, special adviser to the Royal College of Physicians on air quality, told the British Medical Journal (BMJ) it was “shameful” that so few complaints about wood burning had resulted in enforcement action. Between August 2024 and August 2025, at least 15,195 complaints were made about wood burning in England, but only 24 fines were issued.

Current air regulations date back to when coal was the main culprit of dirty air. “We now know that these particles [from wood burning] are at least as toxic, if not more, than those coming from coal,” Holgate said. “So now we have regulations to stop this, but those regulations are never enforced. However, we have received thousands of complaints about this.

Hartshorn also called for phasing out wood-burning stoves and helping rural residents who rely on them switch to cleaner, lower-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps.

“Unnecessary wood burning is on the rise in this country,” she said, pointing to the surge in sales of wood stoves to urban residents in recent years.

The BMJ also revealed that the Scottish Government faced pressure from the Stove Industry Association (SIA), which represents wood stove manufacturers, before abandoning plans to ban wood stoves in new homes. The UK government has also come under pressure, with eight meetings between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and SIA representatives between October 2021 and June 2024, when the Conservatives were in power. Conservative ministers or Defra officials have only met air quality campaigners twice in the same period.

Since Labor took office, three meetings have taken place between Defra and SIA, and 14 with air quality campaigners. The government undertook a consultation on wood heating earlier this year, but campaigners said it was ineffective because it effectively ruled out any form of ban in favor of a possible health warning on the stoves.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) refused to provide details of any meetings with the stove industry, as requested by the BMJ under the Freedom of Information Act. Last month, MHCLG published new guidance for housebuilders – called the Future Homes Standard – which would allow wood-burning stoves to be installed in new homes, although it said the rules would require the installation of low-carbon heat pumps.

Hartshorn said: “I am shocked by the lobbying and devastated on behalf of all the children, hundreds of thousands of them, who are in hospitals, struggling to breathe and afraid – because our air is making them sick. »

She added: “This government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. Well, here’s the test: will they cut ties with the SIA and other industry lobbying bodies and finally do what’s right for our children and public health?” [They must] ending the sale of new wood stoves and phasing out all non-essential wood heating.

An SIA spokesperson said: “Our engagement with the Scottish and UK governments has been carried out openly and in accordance with standard democratic processes followed by all sectors.

“We fully recognize the importance of protecting air quality and public health, and we support proportionate, evidence-based measures that deliver significant reductions in emissions,” the spokesperson said. “Our position systematically supports the transition to modern, ecodesign-compliant stoves, as well as the promotion of best practices in fuel use and stove operation. The spokesperson added that a ban on wood heating would “have a negative impact on the UK’s manufacturing and rural economy”.

However, eco-designed stoves, although an improvement over older models, still emit air pollutants.

A government spokesperson said: “Our new rules will reduce the harm from household fires and we will continue to monitor pollution from this source to inform any future action. »

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “As we have said previously, in changing these regulations the Scottish Government has taken into account the concerns of rural and island communities around resilience in the event of bad weather or power outages, as well as the wider use of bioenergy and peat for other reasons. These changes have addressed these concerns while retaining the spirit of the original legislation, which aims to eradicate polluting gas and oil boilers from new homes and buildings.