Andrew Brons has tabled his first Parliamentary question to the European Parliament. It concerned the Energy Using Products directive and was in response to a request from one of his North Yorkshire constituents.

The MEP for Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire asked:

Is the council aware that:

1. 1.1 million homes in the United Kingdom are heated by oil fired heating boilers and that the directive will prevent them from buying replacement boilers from 2013

2. most of these homes are not connected to the gas pipelines and cannot easily be connected

3. the new style boilers emitting low levels of NOx are too large to fit into the average kitchen

4. homes in the UK need to fit central heating boilers in their kitchens because most homes do not have suitable cellars or outhouses in which to put them.

Would the Council consider granting the United Kingdom a five year derogation from the Directive so that it did not come into operation until 2018?

This would enable the boiler manufacturing industry to develop new technology to produce smaller low NOx emitting boilers that would fit into an average kitchen?