Pollution bylaw creates a burning issue for homeowner

Rotorua woman Raewyn Day is feeling "fired up" about the new fireplace rules which come into force today.
The new rules, as part of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's Air Quality Control bylaw, will limit the type of wood burners and pellet fires that can be installed in some Rotorua homes. From today, if you live within the Rotorua airshed, an area covering most of urban Rotorua, you can only install approved wood burners and pellet fires.
Mrs Day is finding the new bylaw extremely frustrating. She is having problems replacing her woodburner and described her situation as being "like bureaucracy shooting itself in the foot".
Mrs Day recently shifted a house with a complying wood burner which required her to take down the chimney. She then asked a heat pump supplier to assess the home for the Environment Bay of Plenty interest-free loan to install a heat pump but was turned down as the home's wood burner was not in working order, which is one of the loan conditions.
Mrs Day has all the parts for the heat pump in the house but not in its fixed position.
To comply with the new bylaw she has to put the wood burner back into its original position and have it signed off by a heat pump installer as a working wood burner before she can then remove and replace it with the heat pump. Due to costs involved, Mrs Day said she would now just have the wood burner put back in and continue to burn wood until 2015 when a ban on open fires will come into effect. "It seems so stupid.
"It's got me really fired up," she told The Daily Post.
Whoever had made the rules had not thought them through, she said.
However, Bay of Plenty Regional Council sustainability development manager Kataraina Maki said unique situations like Mrs Day's could be addressed.
She said Mrs Day's situation was unique because she had been trying to comply but had just taken a wrong step. "There are exceptions for people who try to comply."
Mrs Maki said people who wanted to use the loan service should speak to the service providers first.
The regional council's strategic development group manager Mary-Anne Macleod said things wouldn't change much for most people.
"At this stage the bylaw will only restrict the type of wood burners that can be installed."
Rotorua Heat and Gas Centre owner Craig Woodhouse said some people had been rushing to get their old wood burners replaced despite the fact most heating appliances had to be compliant for the past few years.
The new rule is one of three which form part of the Air Quality Control bylaw enforced by the regional council to help improve Rotorua's air quality.
Also included is a restriction from May 1, 2012 on properties being sold with non-compliant solid fuel burners in the Rotorua airshed while open fires will be banned from May 1, 2015.
Mrs Macleod said the councils wanted to reduce pollution in Rotorua's air because it was the worst in the North Island.
She said the new rules and the interest-free loans to change to cleaner heating were important steps to improve Rotorua's air.
"We will all benefit in the long run," she said.
Details on the bylaw and airshed are available from www.envbop.govt.nz or by phoning (0800) ENV BOP (368 267).
To find out more about Hot Swap Loan call (0800) 468 792 or go to hotswap.co.nz.