A charitable trust aims to help an estimated 700 homeowners in Arrowtown facing the prospect - and the cost - of converting fireplaces to meet new air quality standards.
The Arrowtown Clean Air and Warm Homes Trust is being established to replace the town's existing Arrowtown Village Association working group, called the Arrowtown Warm Homes and Clean Air Group, said Gerard Hall, the group's chairman.
Five trustees - four community representatives and one appointed by the Queenstown Lakes District Council - were expected to be confirmed by the end of February, and the trust was expected to be operational by mid-March, Mr Hall said.
The trust would help attract funding from councils and the Government, as well as other charitable trusts, to assist homeowners with the cost of converting their fireplaces to cleaner heating options, he said.
The trust would offer advice and financial support to an estimated 700 homeowners expected to be required to convert older fireplaces over the next few years, at a cost of up to $5000 per fireplace. The bill for the town's conversion was expected to rise into the ‘‘millions'' of dollars, he said.
Funding arrangements involving the Government, Otago Regional Council and QLDC were still being discussed, but were expected to be finalised by the new trustees once appointed, Mr Hall said.
The regional council notified its plan change, ‘‘Air for Otago'', in April last year, with a revised version adopted by councillors in December.
The new rules aimed to improve air quality across the province to meet the National Environment Standard for PM10 (fine particles which make the air hazy) emissions by 2013.
Arrowtown - along with Alexandra, Clyde and Cromwell - has been placed in air zone 1, considered the worst-offending category for air pollution, meaning restrictions of 0.7g of particulate for every kilogram of fuel burnt.
Mr Hall said he believed some work to convert some of the town's fireplaces to newer models that met the required emissions standards could begin before winter. There were mixed views about the changes in Arrowtown, he said.
‘‘It's going to come at a cost to residents,'' he said. ‘‘They are nervous. Some of them are probably not aware of the implications in terms of, perhaps, the impact it's going to have financially.
‘‘You just don't pluck five grand out of the air. It's a cost to everyone, but it's an investment in Arrowtown and it's also an investment in your own health and wellbeing,'' he said.
The public has been given until February 22 to lodge any appeals against the proposed air plan rules, which would then be heard by the Environment Court.
