Councillors listen to Clean Air plea

Press, 4 March 1978, Page 11

Councillors listen to Clean Air plea

Christchurch councillors have been confronted already by one of their perennial winter problems—air pollution. Representatives of the local branch of the Clean Air Society asked the council to press for electricity, gas and smokeless fuel at competitive prices; to clear up areas of confusion in the bylaws; and to stop the installation of unapproved heating appliances in existing homes and other buildings. The council’s health and general committee was sufficiently impressed by the ■suggestions to decree that a ■ special report be made to the I next committee meeting late [this month. i However, although the so- ; ciety is dead set against the I open fire in any form—- ! because of its contribution to winter smog—some councillors on the committee said the emphasis should be on “realistic” financial incentives for residents to convert polluting systems and have proper insulation. The committee chairman (Sir Robert Macfarlane) said the city was indebted to the .society for its work, but I some councillors, himself in-

cluded, could not agree to a i blanket ban on the open i fire. For one thing, a fireplace could provide an essential I back-up for heating and cook- I ing during a winter emer- ■ gency, he said. j Cr D. C. Close said there i should be more pressure for ■ incentives to make it easier, i as in London, for residents 1 to part with a heating sys- 1 tem which caused health i problems. The Clean Air Society rep- 1 resentatives who attended i the, meeting to acquaint new ] council members with their 1 work, emphasised that an- 1

other good argument against non-eiectric heating was the inefficiency of older fuels. They quoted a November letter from the Minister of Energy Resources (Mr Gair), which said in part that at present “household rates, electricity in Christchurch would represent a much more economic form of home heating than the open coal fire, with its efficiency of 15 to 20 per cent. “Financial factors should thus compel the abandonment of this primitive form of home heating and need to be made known on a wide basis.” Mr Gair said.