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Local Democracy Reporting
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Local Democracy Reporting - Latest News [Page 146]
Survey Says Carterton Residents Not Getting Bang For Rates Buck
Monday, 22 June 2020, 4:49 pm | Marcus Anselm - Local Democracy Reporter
Almost two thirds of Carterton residents quizzed in a recent district survey said they did not feel they were getting value for money from the council. Carterton councillors and senior staffers will discuss ways to win back public sentiment at a meeting tomorrow. ... More >>
Rotorua Housing Strategy Promises To Enable ‘thousands’ Of Homes
Monday, 15 June 2020, 11:35 am | Felix Desmarais - Local Democracy Reporter
Thousands of new homes could be built in Rotorua as a result of a proposed new strategy for housing in the city. 1. The Housing and Thriving Communities Strategic Framework document. Photo / Felix Desmarais / LDR The draft strategy, created by the Rotorua ... More >>
Residents Fed Up With Freedom Campers, Says Councillor
Monday, 15 June 2020, 11:33 am | Aaron van Delden - Local Democracy Reporter
Kaiti Beach residents are fed up with freedom campers, says Gisborne district councillor Larry Foster. Gisborne District Council banned freedom camping in Marina Park last September after complaints about overcrowding and campers showering and washing dishes ... More >>
Ōtāhuhu Business Owners Fight Council Plans To Slash Funding For Town Centre Upgrade
Monday, 15 June 2020, 11:29 am | Steve Forbes - Local Democracy Reporter
A south Auckland business association is fighting council plans to delay the final stages of its town centre upgrade as part of budget cutbacks. Ōtāhuhu Business Association claims it now has over 2000 signatures on a petition it launched this ... More >>
New ‘regional Park’ Backed For Wairau River
Monday, 15 June 2020, 11:28 am | Chloe Ranford - Local Democracy Reporter
Marlborough Landscape Group members on a field trip earlier this year to scope out the Wairau River "regional park" proposal. CREDIT: SUPPLIED A new regional park alongside the Wairau River has been backed, with a councillor saying it was ... More >>
Counties Manukau DHB Battles Surgery Backlog
Thursday, 11 June 2020, 10:27 am | Steve Forbes - Local Democracy Reporter
Counties Manukau Health says it had to defer between 1400 and 1600 elective surgery operations due to Covid-19 and it is now looking at reducing the backlog with the much needed funding boost it received in last month’s budget. But according to ... More >>
Council Backtracks On Endeavour Models, Agrees To Consultation
Thursday, 11 June 2020, 10:26 am | Aaron van Delden - Local Democracy Reporter
“Talk to us — that’s the whole point,” said a protester at this morning’s extraordinary meeting of Gisborne district councillors as they voted unanimously to revoke their earlier decision to install models of James Cook’s Endeavour in ... More >>
Hotline Calls For Help With Food Most Common In Lockdown
Thursday, 11 June 2020, 10:23 am | Lois Williams - Local Democracy Reporter
Running out of food during the Covid-19 lockdown was the reason most Coasters called the civil defence hotline for help, it has emerged. West Coast Emergency Management director Claire Brown briefed the Regional Council yesterday on the work done over ... More >>
Northland Councils Should Support Kaipara’s Fight Against Auckland’s Dome Valley Landfill
Monday, 8 June 2020, 11:24 am | Susan Botting - Local Democracy Reporter
Northland local authorities should be working together to stop the multi-million dollar Dome Valley mega landfill, an opponent of the dump says. Michelle Carmichael, Fight the Tip, Save the Dome leader, said the proposed facility on more than 1000 ... More >>
Calls For Freedom Camp Site Closure After Tourists Intrude Residents’ Privacy
Monday, 8 June 2020, 11:15 am | Chloe Ranford - Local Democracy Reporter
Freedom campers have left residents in a Marlborough Sounds bay feeling "vulnerable" after years of defecating in their gardens, pinching their water and internet, and demanding to shower. Double Bay residents are calling for the Marlborough District ... More >>
‘It’s No Picnic In Picnic Bay’: Rural Resident Fights For Better Broadband Connectivity
Monday, 8 June 2020, 11:13 am | Chloe Ranford - Local Democracy Reporter
Internet access is "no picnic in Picnic Bay", in the Marlborough Sounds, with resident Chris Womersley using a lunchbox and water bottle to tap into a broadband tower after his dial-up was binned. Forty-five kilometres away, in Tuamarina, slow ... More >>
New $1.8 Million Wharf For Remote Pouto As Kaipara Harbour Wharves Project Takes Shape
Friday, 5 June 2020, 4:50 pm | Susan Botting - Local Democracy Reporter
A new $1.8 million wharf is to be built at remote Pouto as part of the Kaipara Harbour Wharves project. It will be the only new wharf in the unique $4.95 million Provincial Growth Fund-funded project. The wharf will be one of four initial developments in ... More >>
Coast Councils To Seek Govt Funding For SNA Work
Friday, 5 June 2020, 4:44 pm | Lois Williams - Local Democracy Reporter
The council team working on a combined district plan for the West Coast will ask the Government for funding to research significant natural areas (SNAs). The Te Tai Poutini One Plan Committee of council and iwi leaders is meeting regularly to thrash ... More >>
Council Aims To ‘buy Local’
Friday, 5 June 2020, 4:41 pm | Aaron van Delden - Local Democracy Reporter
Supporting the local economy is meant to be a key consideration for Gisborne District Council when it makes purchases. The council’s procurement policy in the past gave preference to local suppliers and businesses, as long as their prices were within ... More >>
Objections Mount To Chlorination Of Reefton Water
Thursday, 4 June 2020, 11:13 am | Lois Williams - Local Democracy Reporter
Reefton people have come out strongly against proposals to chlorinate the town water supply. The Inangahua Community Board meeting last night heard that nearly a third of the submissions on the Buller District Council annual plan this year had come ... More >>
Woodlands Retirees: “We Will Be Forced From Our Homes”
Thursday, 4 June 2020, 11:07 am | Charlotte Jones - Local Democracy Reporter
Woodlands residents fear proposed council rate rises of between 8 to 13 percent may force them from their homes. Elderly people in the area say money is already tight on the pension and a rate rise would see them reach breaking point. “Surely ... More >>
Funding Cut For Kaikoura Council’s Survival Project
Wednesday, 27 May 2020, 12:38 pm | Lois Williams - Local Democracy Reporter
The government has turned off the funding tap for Kaikoura District Council's financial sustainability project. The council's bid for more than $7 million in the latest Budget round has been declined, it has confirmed. And it has been told there would ... More >>
Nature Tourism Will Be Back – Conservation Board Advisor
Tuesday, 26 May 2020, 10:57 am | Lois Williams - Local Democracy Reporter
Tourism on the West Coast has suffered a savage blow from Covid-19 -- but it will come back, according to veteran conservationist, Gerry McSweeney. The former Forest and Bird director and his wife Ann Saunders were two of the first promoters of nature ... More >>
Major Auckland Projects Face Budget Constraints Due To Covid-19
Tuesday, 26 May 2020, 10:51 am | Steve Forbes - Local Democracy Reporter
Auckland Council development agency Panuku is reviewing a number of major projects due to a projected half-billion revenue loss because of coronavirus. But the council-controlled organisation (CCO) will not say which projects might be affected. Panuku currently ... More >>
Hospital Filling Back Up At Alert Level 2
Tuesday, 26 May 2020, 10:47 am | Aaron van Delden - Local Democracy Reporter
Gisborne Hospital is chugging back to life under Alert Level 2. “All departments are back on deck and scheduling surgery, consultations and treatment,” Hauora Tairawhiti district health board chief executive Jim Green said. The Herald reported last week ... More >>
