Deadline urged for ban on open fires

Press, 30 August 1984, Page 3

Deadline urged for ban on open fires

An eight-year time limit for the banning of open fires in the Christchurch metropolitan area, including Rangiora and Kaiapoi, has been sought by the Canterbury United Council. A United Council meeting yesterday decided to ask all local authorities in the metropolitan area to install extended clean-air zones, which were approved in principle last week by the Christchurch City Council, within the eight-year time frame. The decision follows up an earlier recommendation by the United Council’s air pollution committee to extend limited clean-air zones, introduced on April 1, to cover open fires in all premises, not just new houses. Several councillors at the meeting yesterday

spoke of the need to set a time limit within which the extended clean-air zone could be achieved. The chairman of the Waimairi District Council, Mrs Margaret Murray, said that approving the extended clean-air zone in principle was not enough. A time scale must be implemented which the public could accept, and which everyone could work towards. An eight-year time frafne appeared to be realistic, because it would allow two years for the zone to be implemented by local authorities and six years to be achieved by the public. Cr Vicki Buck (Christchurch City Council) said that the United Council and local authorities had chosen the “soft option” for a long

time regarding air pollution, and that setting a time frame was a “refreshing change.” She said there was a lack of publicity and educational material about alternatives to open fires, and that a seminar being arranged by the United Council on October 5 for local authority members would alleviate this. “I hope this seminar will be arranged as quickly as possible, so that people can know what alternatives there are to open fires and what subsidies are available,” she said. Cr D. M. Harris (Rangiora Borough Council) said that although the pollution problem in Rangiora was apparently not as serious as in Christchurch, Rangiora should act now before it also had a problem.

The Mayor of Christchurch, Sir Hamish Hay, said he believed that public opinion was more receptive to something being done in the short term than in the 19905. “I would have thought a five-year objective would have been more reasonable. The public are expecting some action by the constituent councils,” he said. “The eight-year objective can only be a guide, and we hope that some councils, considering their own particular situations, may make a faster move.” Areas affected are the urban areas of Christchurch City, Waimairi District, Paparua County, Heathcote County, Eyre County, Riccarton Borough, Kaiapoi Borough, and Rangiora Borough.