DCC backs coal ban

The Dunedin City Council is calling on the Otago Regional Council to move towards a complete ban on coal as a source of domestic heating.

City councillors, at this week's full DCC meeting, voted to make a submission on the ORC's draft long-term plan, which covers the decade to 2028.

Councillors had been invited to suggest what should be included in the submission, which was yet to be finalised, and among the ideas was one calling for the ORC to "ban the use of coal for domestic heating".

The idea prompted concerns from Cr Mike Lord, who said he could not vote for such a move, and Cr Lee Vandervis questioned the wider process for finalising the submission.

Despite that, councillors voted to approve a list of items for inclusion in the submission, including asking the ORC to invest in a "transition" away from coal as a domestic heat source.

The submission would be drafted by DCC staff based on councillors' suggestions, then circulated to councillors before being submitted to the ORC by May 11.

The submission would also be made public before being considered at the next full DCC meeting on May 29.

The issue flared up again earlier this year, when the ORC decided to investigate upgrading Milton from Air Zone Two to Air Zone One, putting it in the same group as Alexandra, Arrowtown, Clyde and Cromwell.

Air Zone One rules effectively banned coal fires because it was almost impossible to comply with emission standards while burning the fuel, ORC staff said.

That prompted regional councillor Michael Laws, of Cromwell, to declare himself a coal user and vow the council would have to take the coal from his "cold dead hands".

The DCC submission also supported the establishment of a harbour liaison group - which the ORC said would be up and running later this year - to tackle issues such as dredging the eastern channel.

Other submission points included asking the ORC to consider additional water quality monitoring sites in Otago Harbour, and commit to projects studying the effects of sea-level rise in South Dunedin and the Clutha delta, as well as a risk assessment programme to consider the impact of climate change across Otago.

The DCC also decided to support a significant increase in the number of freshwater monitoring sites, up to 90, and boat-based monitoring of alpine lakes.