At a council meeting this week, the council was presented with options around specific interventions to help clean up the air in specific towns.
Cr Alan Somerville had earlier in the meeting suggested an amendment to council set priorities to hasten work on the air quality issue.
He wanted to finalise a system to take effective action to reduce winter air pollution in the most seriously affected Otago towns.
In a later agenda item, the council had proposed to use $600,000 in 2026-27 to replace 100 solid fuel burners in specific towns across Otago.
Cr Somerville said it was time to get working on the issue.
‘‘We have plenty of information. We know what we can do about it. I am making the point about let’s get on with the actions rather than further and further investigation,’’ he said.
‘‘We need to take action on this. It is affecting the health of people in these towns.’’
Council chairwoman Hilary Calvert said the council knew what the problems were but needed to know what it could get from the investment — working on ‘‘getting the bang for the bucks’’.
She said she did not like the term effective action as she did not know what it meant.
At a council meeting in Cromwell last year, Cr Somerville said many different groups had outlined the effects of poor air quality.
‘‘This is real ... not taking action on this does not prevent the cost. It just shifts the cost on to our already stretched health system. Who benefits? Everyone who can breathe the air.’’
Deputy mayor Kevin Malcolm said until the fires had to be withdrawn by law, the council would not be making a big impact.
Cr Gary Kelliher said the intent was good but it was too blunt.
‘‘We should hone in on what is the best bang for bucks. Just honing in on one part of the solution and ignoring the rest is not what we should do,’’ he said.
He said you could have the most modern and clean fire but if it used wet firewood there would be problems.
The council decided to stick with the priority of targeted resource investment into air quality improvements in targeted areas.
The council decided to put the $600,000 into reserves for a decision to be made at a later date.
Cr Somerville said though he lost his amended priority he was glad some impetus had been given to the air quality issue.
