Clean air

Clean air can make a huge contribution to people's enjoyment of outdoor spaces and quality of life. Poor air quality can have an impact on people's health and make homes close to sources of odours and dust less liveable. Together these issues can have significant negative effects on people’s wellbeing.

Drivers for change

New central government direction on air quality and a national emissions reduction strategy are aimed at reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,

There are also strong health-driven guidelines on particulate matter (smoke and dust for example) in air.

In Waitaha/Canterbury we have made great progress on reducing the impacts of solid-fuel home heating and we now have some low or zero-emission buses, but we still have work to do.

What we heard

  • We should build on the progress we have made to improve air quality.
  • Recognise the importance of having quarries close to where material is needed.
  • Cut down on our use of fossil fuels for industry.
  • Sources of air pollution, including dust, should be an appropriate distance from people’s homes.

What we can influence

  • We can set a more consistent approach for managing dust effectively and give clearer direction for managing particulate matter.
  • We can also give greater recognition of, and stronger direction on, the need to manage sources of greenhouse gases.