Assen wants to tackle the nuisance caused by wood burning. But the way in which the local politics is divided into two camps, as it turned out tonight in the city council. Half of the political groups think that good information about ‘smart heating’ is sufficient. The other half supports a subsidy scheme for wood smoke filters or replacement of old stoves.
One scenario with only an information campaign costs the municipality 35,000 euros. The other proposal, with financial support for smoke filters or replacement of stoves, requires an investment of 257,000 euros.
The college of mayor and aldermen hopes to be reimbursed up to 100,000 euros from the central government. Assen signed for the national Clean Air Agreement two years ago. Specific money is available for this. But the municipality will only receive clarity about the government grant at the end of December, said alderman Bert-Jan ten Oever (PLOP).
The fact that the Asser college has come up with two scenarios to suppress nuisance caused by wood burning is due to a motion adopted last year by GroenLinks, D66 and PvdA. “Let nuisance caused by wood burning go up in smoke”, was the motto of the motion.
According to the parties, more and more residents are complaining about nuisance caused by smoke, stench and particulate matter from wood stoves. They therefore thought it was time for Assen to ‘practically give hands and feet’ to the signed Clean Air Agreement, was their opinion. A council majority supported the motion.
The city council was therefore presented with two scenarios tonight, exactly one year later. But as the flag now hangs, Assen can keep the most money in the purse. The proposed subsidy scheme immediately goes up in smoke. City party PLOP, ChristenUnie, Assen Centraal, VVD and SP (the five college parties) reject municipal money for smoke filters and replacement of stoves.
The plan is to fill a pot with a subsidy of 180,000 euros, intended for 120 good smoke filters (1,000 euros each), or to replace forty old stoves. You can get 1500 euros per stove. The fact that the total cost for this subsidy scenario is 257,000 euros is due to an information campaign about the wood burning campaign (25,000 euros), workshops (10,000 euros), drawing up a subsidy regulation, processing the 160 subsidy applications and evaluating the two-year pilot (32,000 euros).
The ChristenUnie believes that ‘buying up stoves is not a task for the municipality’. “And giving a course on how to light a fire is neither,” said CU councilor Harmen Holwerda. With only eleven complaints about wood burning in a year, the SP wonders whether the money could not be spent much better. “With the high energy costs, focus mainly on sustainability, which is not wood burning.”
Assen Central may feel in favor of a subsidy for smoke filters in combination with a good information campaign about smart heating. But councilor Anita de Rijke thinks a purchase scheme for old stoves is a bridge too far.
The council of Assen will make a final decision on the wood burning scheme next Thursday.