Air Quality Standards review – Good news!
June 28, 2010
Last year there was a significant debate in Hawkes Bay about the impact of the last Governments air quality standards by 2012. Many Napier residents wrote or emailed me regarding their concerns. Most people were worried about the cost impost, particularly to low income families and superannuitants, of having to replace their open fires at a cost of thousands of dollars a family and millions of dollars to the city.
The Napier City Council and the Hawkes Bay Regional Council approached me to see what could be done. I agreed that there needed to be air quality standards around New Zealand but thought that there had to be a way to implement the standards at minimal cost. At the time Napier had recorded just five exceedances per annum and given this small number of breaches it seemed ridiculous to force massive change so quickly. This was especially so when it was predicted Napier would meet the standard as a City simply by requiring new home builds and home sales to meet the standard over a longer time period.
As a result Craig Foss and I met with Minister Nick Smith and also asked him to meet with the respective councils to understand the issue we faced. Fact was that in cities like Christchurch, they’ve known they had a problem for decades and have had the chance to change. Quite frankly Napier didn’t know we had an issue until we measured it (I certainly didn’t) and as a result the time frame given for us to meet the standard was unworkable.
Our meeting and others around the country convinced the Minister to review the standards. The upshot of this is a discussion document proposing amendments to the National Air Quality Standards. As the Minister rightly said “The existing standard of only one exceedance a year is unrealistic and would require banning home log burners and industries in communities where air quality is generally very good”.
The Technical Advisory Group has recommended the standard be increased from one to three exceedances a year, which is consistent with the World Health Organisation Air Quality Standard. In addition to this the group has recommended the period within which councils must comply be extended to 2018.
These changes are about improving air quality but in a pragmatic and realistic way. I am confident that under these changes Napier will be able to meet the standard within the timeframe and at a much smaller cost to our city.
Chris Tremain
