The Press TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1975. Need for fair deal on clean air zones

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33783, 4 March 1975, Page 16

The Press TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1975. Need for fair deal on clean air zones

Declaring any area of the city a clean air zone for the coming winter would impose unfair hardship on those forced to find alternative means of heating their homes at short notice. This is a sound reason for delaying the programme for clean air zones. But the Christchurch City Council must not use the delay as a means of covering retreat from its determination to eliminate one of the major causes of air pollution in Christchurch. Pollution of the air from other sources — among them cigarette smoking and car exhausts —is as serious as pollution from open fires, but it is less amenable to correction.

The case against open fires is well established. The smoke they generate makes a major contribution to pollution which affects the health or comfort of many citizens and adds to the costs of maintenance and cleaning. The coal burnt in open grates could be used much more efficiently. Further reports on the health hazard created by open fires will almost certainly confirm that, at times, smoke levels in Christchurch are so high that action must be taken to reduce them. Even before it receives any new reports, the council should be pressing the Government more vigorously than it has in the past for assistance to those householders who are forced to make an expensive change to other forms of heating. They may turn to an entirely different source of energy or install coal-burning appliances which meet clean air requirements. Provided that the expense is not unbearable, most individuals would probably surrender their open fires willingly enough in return for a definite reduction of levels of air pollution. Direct Government assistance for householders is the best way of spreading the cost fairly over the whole community.

When the technical and financial problems have been overcome, the installation of efficient coalburning devices in private homes may be the best way to dispose of the air pollution problem. This solution avoids increasingly expensive hydro-electric development or increasing dependence on imported fuels. At the same time the local coal-mining industry will not be denied support. A year should be long enough for the council to make progress on all these fronts. The clean air zones which were to have been established this April might reasonably be established by the autumn of 1976.