Bid dropped to reinstate waste oil on dusty roads

Residents and motorists on the Far North's many metal roads can look forward to yet another dusty summer.

The Far North District Council has shelved its plan to lobby the Northland Regional Council to lift the ban on spraying waste oil on metal roads. The Far North has more than 1600km of unsealed roads.

The idea was suggested in the district council's draft long-term plan released in April this year and was also supported by the Whangarei District Council.

However, after 722 submissions from the public, councillors have decided to pull the plug on lobbying the Northland Regional Council to relax the ban.

Far North District Council communications manager Richard Edmondson said the council received 332 submissions in favour of using waste oil to suppress dust and 292 against.

He also said many of the submissions that supported the bid would only do so if it could be proved that it would do no harm to the environment.

Far North Deputy Mayor Anne Court said the reason the councillors pulled support for the bid was because of the low chances of success.

"It would require a plan change and the Northern Regional Council would not drive it and our chances of getting it approved were not very good.

"It was a prudent thing, we didn't want to throw money away," she said.

Mayor Wayne Brown said previously that the council received upward of 50 dust complaints a day in the summer months.

Although contractors are allowed to use glycerol-based sprays in an attempt to suppress dust on metal roads, Mr Brown said these had proved to be ineffective.

The Northland Regional Council banned using waste oil on roads in 2004, due to fears that it could cause environmental issues if the oil washed into rivers.

Regional council community relations general manager Fleur King said the ban was put in place because the environmental and health effects associated with the application of used oil on roads in Northland were considered to be too high to be acceptable.