Did you know there are changes to domestic and outdoor burning rules in Marlborough to help improve our air quality?
The Council’s ‘Burning Guides’ have had a refresh and an update to increase awareness of these new management measures
which are contained in the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan (PMEP). Four new guides have been produced. Two are on
domestic wood burning - a summary of the rules and a guide on the best way to operate your burner. The other two cover
outdoor burning - a fact sheet and a best practice guide.
Environmental Scientist Sarah Brand said the Council needed to alert the public to new rules around burning contained in
the PMEP. “The PMEP has introduced some new regulations surrounding domestic and outdoor burning in an effort to improve
air quality in Marlborough and meet the National Environmental Standard for Air Quality (NESAQ),” said Sarah.
The rules are complex but a summary of the standards relating to indoor burners includes:Discharge from an enclosed pellet burner of any age, and installed at any time is permittedDischarge from an enclosed wood burner installed after 1 September 2005 is permittedDischarge from any indoor open fire is prohibited (unless the fire is used exclusively for the cooking or smoking of
food for wholesale or retail sale)Discharge from any small scale solid fuel burner not described above is permitted until the burner reaches 15 years of
ageDischarge from any small scale solid fuel burner installed after 9 June 2016 is permitted.
Outdoor burning within the Blenheim Airshed is now a prohibited activity unless the fire is used exclusively for the
cooking or smoking of food for non-commercial purposes (all year round). A brazier is permitted but cannot be used
during the months of May, June, July or August, and cannot involve the burning of any prohibited fuels/materials. This
applies to all zones within the Blenheim Airshed.
The main air contaminant of concern for New Zealand is particulate matter (PM). The National Environmental Standards
(NES) currently focuses on PM10 but the Ministry for the Environment is proposing a change to reduce this further to
PM2.5 by later this year or early 2022. In 2005, regional councils were required to outline urban areas which either
were, or were likely to exceed, the NES for PM10. These areas were termed airsheds. In Marlborough, Blenheim is
currently the only designated airshed.
“The air quality in Marlborough does not meet the NESAQ during the winter months and historically Blenheim has been
non-compliant with the NES for PM10,” said Sarah.
In 2020, there were three exceedances of the allowed levels – only one exceedance is allowed under the NES so Blenheim
breached that twice. So far this winter Blenheim has exceeded this level five times. “With the move to reduce this
further to PM2.5we are likely to see many more breaches unless we can begin to change habits and work on educating the
public on how they can help make a difference to air quality,” said Sarah.
Air Emission Inventories are carried out every five years to find the source and proportion of air pollutants.
Blenheim’s most recent Air Emission Inventory was completed in 2017. This showed 90% of emissions contributing to PM10
originated from home heating, 8% was from outdoor burning, with industry and transport both contributing 1% each.
Smoke nuisance and burning of prohibited materials are the most common reasons behind outdoor-burning related complaints
made to the Council’s Compliance team. “Many people approached by Compliance about burning activities are unaware of the
rules so we have also updated our educational material to give to the public when called out to smoke complaints,” said
Sarah.
The new guides will be provided to relevant organisations working in this space to help improve awareness around air
quality issues and the rules around burning in Marlborough,” she said.
This includes providing a copy of the guide with building consents for log fires and in information packs for new
property owners. A letter will be sent to co-operating agencies along with the burning guides to advise them of
Council’s focus to improve air quality.
To view the Council’s new Burning Guides go to:
For more information on the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan (PMEP) go to: