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Auckland Council voted this month to let its bylaw on indoor domestic fires expire. The decision was made by members of the Regulatory and Safety committee at the committee’s April 4, meeting.
Council’s air quality bylaw for Indoor Domestic Fires was introduced in 2017 to address issues like public nuisance caused by indoor fire smoke, prohibited fuels, and suitable design of indoor fireplaces.
Wet wood, painted wood, fuel with a high sulphur content and green waste that could cause an increase in smoke production were all banned under the bylaw.
Last term, policy advisor Chelsea Majoor said prohibited fuels regulations under the bylaw were impossible to enforce as compliance staff would need to be invited into Aucklanders homes. Majoor also said only half the bylaw was working at the time, but after investigation her advice has changed. Now she says the bylaw’s impact is negligible.
“The bylaw is not needed to address public nuisance – this is because the Auckland Unitary Plan is used instead and it has more effective enforcement powers,” Majoor told the committee.
For a property owner to install a solid fuel heating system like a fireplace they need building consent. To get consent, the appliance must comply with design standards under the Resource Management Act’s National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ).
Since September 2005, the NESAQ has prohibited discharge of particles to air from a wood burner on a property less than 2ha and any older installations must discharge less than 1.5g of particles for each kilogram of dry wood burnt.
Open fires, pellet burners, multi-fuel burners, wood-burning cooking stoves and coal-burning heaters are missed under the NESAQ which is where the bylaw came in to cover the gap.
However, council reports that out of 22 domestic fires regulated solely under the bylaw, 20 already met the design standard in the NESAQ.
Over 99 percent of council’s consents for indoor domestic fires are regulated by ‘stricter’ requirements in the national legislation which has better enforcement powers, Majoor said.
Councillors unanimously agreed to let the bylaw expire, which it will do on May 25 next year.
Backstories August 22, 2022, March 2017
