Reprieve sought for ban on home fires

Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick

A ban on the use of all open fires in the Rotorua urban area comes into effect on May 1 - but Rotorua Lakes councillors have requested another year's grace due to concerns the community has not been fully informed.

Under the Rotorua Air Quality Control Bylaw, from May 1 all indoor open fires in the Rotorua "airshed" will not be permitted to be used.

However, at a meeting of the Rotorua Lakes Council's operations and monitoring committee yesterday, Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick asked representatives from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to extend the cut-off date by another year. She said councillors were concerned the regional council had not done enough in terms of advertising the date to the wider Rotorua community.

"Suddenly it's almost May and this will be in force in just two months."

She then asked for the ban to be delayed for another year "to get buy-in from the community".

Just over 500 Rotorua properties have open fires, which will need to be decommissioned or replaced under the bylaw.

The bylaw was introduced by the Rotorua District Council in 2010 at the request of the regional council. The regional council monitors and enforces it.

Regional councillor Paula Thompson led a regional council delegation to yesterday's meeting.

She said Rotorua still had the North Island's worst air quality due to a number of factors, including an abundance of firewood, the city's location and cold, windless winter days and nights.

Most of Rotorua's wintertime air pollution comes from domestic fires - 61 per cent, with 24 per cent coming from industry, 12 per cent from transport and 4 per cent from commercial activities.

"Our philosophy is carrot and stick - incentives together with rules and regulations. I assure you we are going to be taking a very educative and supportive stance during this period. We have no intention to be heavy handed," Mrs Thompson said.

She said the regional council was also in the process of deciding whether a further $13 million would be invested into the council's long-term plan to further support Rotorua property owners and help them convert to cleaner heating technology.

Regional councillor Lyall Thurston said he was receptive to looking at any solutions that could provide a long-term remedy to Rotorua's air quality issues. "We believe there has been considerable publicity over past years, but we heard the call from the [district] council and will consider it in the next few days, not weeks.

"This is a health and wellness issue and should be a concern for the whole Rotorua community.

"We were delighted we got this meeting as it took a lot of work to get our feet under the table. In fact, it took the three Rotorua representatives - myself, Neil Oppatt and Arapeta Tahana - to make a personal request to the mayor to get this meeting.

"I think it's grossly unfair to cast aspersions against us, people have known about this for some time."