Resource consent has been granted to sink the frigate HMNZS Canterbury as an artificial reef and dive attraction at Deep Water Cove in the outer Bay of Islands.
A Whangarei-based Council worker has won an international study award and is to visit Great Britain next year to research how website and other technologies are being used by local authorities overseas.
An estimated 100,000 litre raw sewage spill into a Whangarei stream has prompted a warning to contractors to obtain local authority approval before working on public sewerage systems.
An internationally-recognised Whangarei yachtsman has today (Weds 13 December) been named this year’s ‘Northland Sailor of the Year’.
All Northland Regional Council offices are to close from 1pm Friday, 22 December until the morning of Wednesday, 3 January for the Christmas-New Year holiday break.
Twelve Northland schools have been recognised for a range of environmental initiatives - including turning a swampy paddock into a thriving wetland - at the region’s first Enviroschools Awards.
The Auckland-based head of an infrastructure works and maintenance company has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Northland Regional Council.
Uncertainty over the quantity of wastewater passing through Ruakaka’s wastewater treatment plant and its effects on the foreshore has seen the plant’s resource consents renewed – but for a reduced volume and limited 10-year term.
Whangarei bus patrons have received an early Christmas present with the news the buses will keep operating on all statutory holidays for the first time this summer.
People illegally taking trailer loads of sand from Kaipara beaches risk legal action if caught, the Northland Regional Council warns.
Water quality tests to check whether some of Northland’s most popular spots are suitable for swimming will begin on Monday (November 27).
A magazine editor/food and wine consultant, a farmer, company directors, a business consultant and an accountant are among the newest appointees to the $12 million Northland Regional Council Community Trust.
Local authorities have granted resource consent for a new Kaipara Harbour-based marine maintenance facility, complete with a 105-metre long, 30-metre wide dry dock.
A framework for the future development of new Northland marine farms moved a step closer to reality today with the launch of a new round of Northland Regional Council consultation.
The Northland Regional Council is to embark on a three-pronged plan to try to progress long-held plans for a $100 million-plus rail link to Marsden Pt.
Almost 120 projects ranging from fencing native bush to controlling pest animals and plants have been awarded a $435,000 share of this year’s record $530,000 Northland Regional Council Environment Award.
Organisers are expecting more than 20 locals to attend a free Kaeo workshop designed to inform landowners how to limit on-farm erosion and improve the health of the region’s waterways.
Plans to build up several hundred metres of eroding Matapouri Beach with thousands of cubic metres of sand extracted from the local estuary have been granted resource consent.
The contractors and project managers responsible for illegal earthworks for a roughly 10-kilometre subdivision road across largely erosion-prone Mangawhai land have been fined a total of $72,500.
A record 40 students from 20 Northland schools will gather for a special Youth Summit at Whangarei’s Onerahi foreshore next month (Thursday 19 October) to discuss coastal environmental issues – and what they can do to make a difference.
More than 20 people have applied to become the Northland Regional Council’s next Chief Executive Officer.
More than 40 people have applied to fill six vacancies on the $12 million Northland Regional Council Community Trust.
A 17-year-old Kerikeri High School student’s study of waterway pollution has earned him this year’s Northland Regional Council ‘Excellence Award’ at the Top Energy Far North Science and Technology Fair.
Concerned locals and experts are to gather in the Hokianga in a bid to try to find workable solutions to erosion that has eaten away more than 20 metres of the Omapere foreshore since the 1960s.
A novel solution to thwart poachers raiding her father’s crayfish pots has earned a Whangarei student a $1000 Northland Regional Council award at the Central Northland Science and Technology Fair.
About 50 students, teachers and environmental educators from around Northland are to gather at Kerikeri next week (Thurs 31 August) for an annual Enviroschools hui.
Northlanders with good business skills and connections, business development know-how and a knowledge of Maori culture are needed to help run a $12 million trust fund.
Hydrologists estimate recent improvements to the Awanui flood scheme mean it can already carry almost 12 percent extra water – almost 100 million litres every hour - before there is a serious flooding risk to Kaitaia.
Yellow, sulphurous-looking dust that has been sparking pollution complaints in Whangarei is just pine tree pollen.
Strong tides, shifting sand banks, floating debris and rough seas are just some of the challenges facing Regional Council staff carrying out a $50,000-plus upgrade of Kaipara Harbour’s navigation aids.
Members of the public are being asked for their views on a Draft Strategy intended to help shape the future of land-based transportation in the region for the next decade.
More than 200 biosecurity experts are to meet in the Bay of Islands next week for the biggest conference of its kind in the region in a decade.
The annual hunt has begun for a university student keen to receive a $10,000 Northland Regional Council Sustainable Management Scholarship.
Senior Northland Regional Council Manager Tony Phipps has been appointed as Acting Chief Executive Officer while a replacement is sought for outgoing CEO Warren MacLennan.
A Bay of Islands couple has been granted resource consent to remove an existing jetty and build a new floating one to improve boat access to their Russell property.
People keen to secure a share of the Northland Regional Council’s $505,000 Environment Fund have just one week left to get their applications in.
More than 10,000 plants have been prepared for the three planting days planned at Lake Omapere, the first of which is being held this weekend.
The Northland Regional Council is very disappointed and frustrated with ONTRACK’s decision yesterday not to proceed immediately with the designation of land for the proposed rail extension from Oakleigh to Marsden Point.
Long time Northland Regional Council Chief Executive Officer Warren MacLennan has announced his resignation to take up a new position at the Rodney District Council.
Northland Regional Council members have formally adopted a comprehensive plan setting out the direction the Council will take over the next decade.
A study of freshwater bug life, slashing trash and worm farming are among a record 20 school projects that will receive $16,000 funding from this year’s Northland Regional Council Environmental Curriculum Awards.
Organisers are hoping for another good public turn-out as they aim to plant 10,000 native trees and flaxes at Lake Omapere next month.
Northland Regional Council members have voted to fund a $13 million stake in a proposed multimillion dollar regional events centre.
The productivity of Northland’s paddocks may be hampered for as long as two or three seasons because of recent persistent recent rain, the Northland Regional Council warns.
Northland’s saturated land and rain-swollen rivers may struggle to cope with at least another 70mm of rain predicted for today, with officials warning flooding is a real possibility in Whangarei and the mid-North.
Revolutionary self-setting pest traps may be a step closer to reality after a $5000 research grant to the Northland Regional Council.
More than 20 local authority, refinery, tug company, conservation and iwi representatives are to take part in a regional oil spill exercise involving a large, fictional spill next week (Thurs 1 June).
A near-miss in which a 4500 tonne cement carrier almost mowed down two boaties in a small, unlit dinghy has prompted a safety warning from Northland’s Regional Harbourmaster.
They’re smaller and less visible than possums, but the humble rat is capable of doing great environmental damage to Northland too, according to pest experts.
Almost 500 submissions have been received on the Northland Regional Council’s Draft Long Term Council Community Plan.
Central Government’s decision to open Telecom’s broadband network to competition has been welcomed by the Chairman of the Northland Regional Council’s Regional Development Committee.
Applications are now open for an expanded $505,000 Northland Regional Council fund designed to help people protect and enhance the region’s precious natural environment.
Property owners in rural parts of the Whangarei District will be able to rid themselves of unwanted agricultural chemicals and other hazardous wastes when a free collection service returns later this month.
Officials are today hunting a person who dumped a large truckload of roughly 250 used car tyres into a tidal area at Portland, near Whangarei.
Biosecurity experts are once again offering Northland gardeners help to identify and eradicate the aggressive pest plant ‘Lantana camara’.
Northlanders wanting to dam a river or drill a new bore will need resource consent under proposed minor changes to the way the region’s freshwater supplies are managed.
Developers of a new marina at Solomons Pt, Parua Bay have been granted resource consent to build up to 17 new pile moorings.
A $13 million stake in a new $39.3M Whangarei multi-use events centre could be funded via part of a new ‘Regional Recreational Facilities Rate’ being considered by Northland Regional Councillors.
Northlanders are being asked to join a battle to stop the spread of a tiny ant classed among the 100 most invasive species on Earth.
Rural Far North residents will have another chance to rid themselves of unwanted agrichemicals when a special Northland Regional Council collection team returns to the district next month.
About 15 people are expected to deal with a fictional oil spill at Tutukaka next month as Northland’s marine oil spill response experts put their skills to the test.
‘Pest pies’ will be back on the menu at the upcoming Dargaville field days – but this year it will be the meat from young wild goats, rather than possums, filling the free Northland Regional Council snacks.
Northland Regional Council Biosecurity Officer Ken Massey says every year about this time the wind carries huge numbers of moth plant seeds to new sites.
Would-be marine farmers - rather than ratepayers – will bear the costs of any moves to zone aquaculture areas in Northland under a new regime adopted by the Northland Regional Council.
An extra $23,000 funding is to enable Whangarei Bus Services to operate on public holidays, beginning with Northland Anniversary Day on Monday. (Monday 30 January)