Burning off review

By Tania Martin
THE Shire of Yarra Ranges has released a report outlining 38 options for ways to modify its burning off laws to help improve air quality.
The council is now calling on all residents to have their say on the report.
Mayor Tim Heenan says the discussion paper was a part of the Burning Issues project, which includes the review of the Open Air Burning Local Law that was adopted last year.
“The discussion paper looks at different aspects of burning off and provides an analysis of the need for potential changes to the local law, community education and enforcement,” he said.
“Feedback from residents is an important part of council’s decision making.”
One of the 38 proposed options is to prohibit all burning off without a permit in the fire danger period.
People are currently allowed to use incinerators during the fire danger period on Thursdays and Saturdays between 10am and 3pm but the proposed change would see all burning off prohibited unless a permit was granted.
The paper also proposes to increase the number of burning off days from two to four between fire seasons, which is usually between April and October.
The present regulations allow residents to burn off on Thursdays and Saturdays between 10am and 3pm but the paper proposes to change this to allow people to burn off four days a week, including Thursdays, and Saturdays, plus two addition weekdays from 10am to 3pm.
Open air burning reference group chairwoman councillor Monika Keane says the options in the discussion paper seek to balance the competing values of fire preparation with the impact of smoke on the health and lifestyle of residents.
“I urge those interested in getting involved to look at the options as a whole rather than looking at the options in isolation,” she said.
“The options presented take into consideration the earlier and longer fire seasons we’ve been told to expect, the need to better manage the negative impacts of smoke and supporting the local law with community education and enforcement,” she said.
But Cr Keane says the options in the discussion paper are not the final recommendations and that through the feedback process, the council was likely to come across important information that would be considered before making a final decision.
Shire of Yarra Ranges residents now have four weeks to comment on the proposed options before the council makes a final decision on the local law later in the year.
Feedback on the discussion paper is open until Tuesday, 31 July.