A POLITICAL row has erupted after a senior Lib Dem MSP called for more environmentally-friendly boilers in Scotland – which the city council has blocked in Edinburgh.
Opposition councillors today seized on comments by south of Scotland MSP Jim Hume, the Lib Dem's environment spokesman, who said: "Ministers must make a real effort to develop the biomass industry in Scotland."
Biomass boilers were set to be inclu
ded in five secondary and two primary schools being built in the Capital because, unlike traditional gas boilers, no CO2 is released during the heating process.
But the order was stopped by the Lib Dem-led council last year, amid concerns that emissions generated by the boilers could cause breathing problems.
Labour group education spokesman, Councillor Andrew Burns, said: "This indicates just how short-sighted the Lib Dems in Edinburgh have been.
"It is hugely hypocritical that a Lib Dem MSP is urging the Government to press ahead with biomass, when local Lib Dems have cancelled the most significant biomass project in central Scotland.
"The administration is unable to make difficult decisions. The real truth is that this decision was taken for financial reasons."
Cllr Burns said the initial costs of installing biomass boilers would be high, but the long-term benefits outweigh this. He also said studies showed that any safety concerns about emissions could be alleviated, for example by building taller chimneys.
However, city leaders today said they would not consider anything that could put children's health at risk, and insisted the decision was not financially motivated.
Councillor Robert Aldridge, Edinburgh's Lib Dem environment leader, said: "Our decision to suspend the installation of biomass boilers in council facilities was based on the professional advice of our environmental health division.
"We took the decision that we could not take any potential risk, however small, with the health of Edinburgh's school children.
"We view this as a precautionary measure, in light of the best scientific information available. In addition, the decision reached does not preclude their provision at a later date, if research approves their use."
But last Friday, Mr Hume – whose constituency covers part of the Lothians – said:
"The Scottish Government must build on the significant progress on biomass made by the Liberal Democrats in the previous administration.
"Ministers must make a real effort to develop the biomass industry in Scotland."
Green councillor Alison Johnstone said:
"I'm surprised to learn that in Holyrood we have a Lib Dem MSP urging action to meet our renewable energy targets through biomass generation and in the City Chambers we have a Lib Dem administration deleting biomass boilers from one of the city's biggest projects."
The full article contains 445 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
