A ‘fantastic’ decision to base three international teams in Northland during the Rugby World Cup is poised to deliver a multimillion dollar economic windfall, the group charged with co-ordinating Cup planning in Northland says.
Countless hours of hard work across a variety of environmental initiatives has paid off for five Northland schools in the annual end-of-year Enviroschools’ Awards.
A draft of a comprehensive plan setting out the way Civil Defence will be managed in Northland over the next five years has been released for public comment.
Summer water quality tests to determine how safe Northland’s most popular beaches and rivers are for swimming are under way again.
Members of the public are being asked for their views on two new strategies designed to provide a more streamlined, flexible regime for managing Northland’s plant and animal pests.
Northland Regional Council contractors have caused some curious onlookers to wonder what is happening in the region’s most flood-prone rivers and streams.
Forty-five students from 20 Northland schools gathered for a special Youth Summit at Whāngārei’s Onerahi foreshore recently to discuss coastal environmental issues – and what they could do to make a difference.
The Northland Regional Council has posted an $182,000 net surplus for the 2008/09 financial year.
Forty-nine students from 23 Northland schools will gather for a special Youth Summit at Whangarei’s Onerahi foreshore this month to discuss coastal environmental issues – and what they can do to make a difference.
Calls by locals for more time to have a say on a draft local authority mooring management plan for Mangawhai Harbour has seen a deadline for public comment extended by more than a month to December.
The Northland Regional Council says today’s recommendation KiwiRail be allowed to formally designate the Marsden Pt rail link route is a significant milestone in a project poised to deliver significant, long-lasting economic benefits to the entire region.
A panel of Independent Commissioners is recommending national rail operator KiwiRail be allowed to formally designate the corridor of land it would use for a proposed multimillion dollar rail link from Oakleigh to Marsden Pt.
Local authority proposals to change ski lane and swimming areas at two popular beaches in the Far North’s Doubtless Bay have been modified after public consultation.
Northlanders are being asked for their views on a new Proposed Marine Pest Management Strategy designed to address the impacts of established nasties like sea squirt and potential threats from species like the Pacific sea star starfish.
Enterprise Northland, the Regional Development Agency for Northland, is now operating out of the Northland Regional Council’s Whāngārei building thanks to a generous offer of accommodation from the Regional Council.
Civil Defence officials say Northlanders should continue to be wary of possible issues from higher than usual waves generated by today’s large Samoan earthquake.
A barely detectable tsunami wave has been recorded in Northland after today’s large earthquake off Samoa but appears to have had little or no local impact.
Northlanders in low-lying east coast areas are being warned to adopt a precautionary approach and stay off beaches as a tsunami with a possible estimated height of up to one metre reportedly heads towards New Zealand.
Northlanders in low-lying east coast areas are being warned to adopt a precautionary approach and stay off beaches as a tsunami of as-yet unknown height reportedly heads towards New Zealand.
A United States-based expert has identified a mystery plant growing in forest near Whāngārei as a passion flower native to Costa Rica and Panama.
Mooring owners and local residents are being invited to have their say on a draft local authority mooring management plan tailor-made for the Mangawhai Harbour.
Members of the public are being invited to nominate several potential members of a new local authority committee that will work to reduce the risks flooding poses to urban Whāngārei, including its low-lying Central Business District.
A 17-year-old Kerikeri High School student’s study on the biological control of gorse has earned him this year’s Northland Regional Council ‘Excellence Award’ at the Top Energy Far North Science and Technology Fair.
Majority shareholder the Northland Regional Council wants to see a more professionally focussed Northland Port Corporation board – and fewer local government faces at the board table.
Northlanders are to be granted access to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of aerial photography and other local authority geographic information system (GIS) data.
Initial investigations show a Government proposal that would expand the Northland region’s boundary as far south as Waiwera is workable from the Northland Regional Council’s perspective, its Chairman says.
Local authority biosecurity staff are hoping an overseas expert will be able to shed some light on the identity of a mysterious plant discovered growing wild in publically-owned forest in Whāngārei.
A study into phosphate levels on the shores of Lake Omapere has earned a Whangarei student a $1000 Northland Regional Council award at the Central Northland Science and Technology Fair.
Far North and Whāngārei residents can dispose of their old PCs, computer peripherals, mobile phones and cameras at eDay on Saturday 12th September.
The first stage of the $16 million Northland Events Centre project is now effectively complete with the second, final stage of the ratepayer-funded development expected to be finished - on time and budget – by May next year.
Development on floodplains – particularly housing – has emerged as one of several key public concerns expressed during a recent round of meetings in flood-prone Northland communities.
Northland Regional Council Chairman Mark Farnsworth has been appointed to a new seven-member Government Aquaculture Technical Advisory Group (TAG).
Dozens of teachers and students will take to the road shortly for a first-hand look at their peers’ environmental education initiatives in the region’s inaugural Enviroschools bus tours.
Dozens of seabed samples will be taken from the approaches to Whangarei Harbour over the next month to help determine the cost of a possible new dredging programme.
Computer Access New Zealand (CANZ) has announced another eDay (free computer recycling day), for 12 September 2009, with the aim of diverting over 1,000 tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) from landfills in up to 40 regions - including Whangarei - an increase from the 31 regions that participated in 2008.
Safety concerns are behind proposals to alter ski lane and swimming areas at two popular beaches in the Far North’s Doubtless Bay.
Parts of Northland have been lashed by almost a month’s rain in just 36 hours, but forecasters say the worst of it - and the gale force winds affecting the region - appear to have passed.
Northlanders – especially those north of Whangarei – are being warned to keep a wary eye on river and stream levels with up to 150mm of rain, flooding and strong potentially damaging winds forecast for the weekend.
New educational kits designed to help students participating in the popular Enviroschools programme have been gifted to 19 Northland-based teachers at what is believed to be the first gathering of its kind in the region.
A series of meetings with residents of some of Northland’s most flood-prone communities has begun and is already paying dividends according to local authority river management staff.
Projects from film making to creating habitats for New Zealand’s increasingly rare freshwater crayfish are among 19 school initiatives to share this year’s $20,000 Northland Regional Council Environmental Curriculum Awards (ECAs).
Initial attempts to restore a beneficial undersea grass in Whangarei Harbour are being hailed a success by increasingly optimistic researchers.
New rates to fund the region’s rescue helicopter service and Whangarei’s public bus service are two of the key decisions confirmed today after recent public input on the Northland Regional Council’s draft 10-year Community Plan.
Northland’s farmers are being urged to do their bit to recycle more of the estimated 400-plus tonnes of non-biodegradable silage wrap used in the region annually.
Environment Minister Nick Smith has congratulated the Northland Regional Council for its “excellent” handling of resource consent applications and the positive impact this has on the local economy.
Mid and Far North people keen to learn more about the Community Pest Control Areas scheme will get the chance at a free open day at Okaihau at the weekend.
The many environmental education opportunities offered by Northland’s harbours have been highlighted to 29 teachers at two special Regional Council workshops in Waitangi this week.
Residents of some of Northland’s most flood-prone communities are being invited to meet with local authorities to update existing knowledge about - and help find possible solutions to – flooding issues.
The Northland Regional Council’s award-winning website has scooped two new accolades – one national, the other global – in a fortnight.
Schools are being urged to act quickly to try to win a share of this year’s $20,000 Northland Regional Council Environmental Curriculum Awards.
Northland Regional Council Chairman Mark Farnsworth and Whangarei Mayor Stan Semenoff have expressed deep gratitude at the announcement today of $2.5 million in Government funding for Whangarei’s regional multi-events centre.
Applications are now open for a $500,000 Northland Regional Council fund designed to help people protect and enhance the region’s precious natural environment.
More than 800 grass carp are to be released into Kaipara’s Lake Roto-otuauru in a bid to wipe out two invasive weeds threatening some of the nation’s most precious dune lakes.
A proposed rate to help fund the region’s rescue helicopter service dominates comments made by 300-plus submitters to the Northland Regional Council’s Draft Northland Community Plan 2009-2019.
More than 20,000 litres of water has been drained from a large, unstable hill posing a potential threat to Kaitaia township.
Northland farmers have just two months left to meet a July deadline to keep stock out of the region’s tidal areas.
A new fee and increases in existing resource consent charges are proposed as the Northland Regional Council moves to both learn more about the region’s freshwater resources and ensure there is enough to go around in future.
The public has one month from today to comment on the direction the Northland Regional Council intends to take over the next decade.
The local authority leaders of Auckland’s neighbours have met to work through some of the initial implications of plans to super size the city.
Northlanders are being urged to comment on a new draft local authority transport programme that could ultimately see more than a billion dollars spent on the region’s transport needs over the next decade.
Government plans to investigate finfish and oyster farming opportunities in Northland in a bid to grow New Zealand's aquaculture industry have been welcomed by the Northland Regional Council.
Independent Commissioners have granted the Northland Regional Council resource consents to dredge 22 coastal stream mouths to ensure water can flow freely from them to the sea.
A joint local authority hearings committee is recommending the Minister of Conservation grant a number of coastal permits for a multimillion dollar redevelopment of the Paihia waterfront.
At 8.30pm this Saturday, Northland will be part of something huge, and the Northland Regional Council is opening its doors to tell you about it.
Northland Regional Council ratepayers are being asked whether they’re prepared to help fund the region’s rescue helicopter service and Whangarei’s public bus service.
The Northland Regional Council has today outlined serious concerns over elements of a Northland Port Corporation share buy back deal the Council claims could have cost the region’s ratepayers millions of dollars.
Northlanders are being urged to keep a close eye on the weather today with forecasters predicting severe gale force winds and heavy rain.
Resource consents have been granted for a proposed community wastewater scheme in the Waitangi Forest which could eventually treat waste from up to 50,000 Bay of Islands people.
Anyone noticing a bright red colour in the sea around Opua later this month will have nothing to worry about – it’s a harmless research project.
World champion dinghy sailor – and Far North teenager - Ben Lutze has been named Northland Sailor of the Year for 2008.
The Northland Regional Council Community Trust has a new Chairman and two new members.
Wild pork meatballs will be the latest pest food tempting visitors to the Northland Regional Council’s stand at the upcoming Northland Agricultural Field Days.
The new Government’s long-awaited revamp of the Resource Management Act has been welcomed by Northland Regional Council Chairman Mark Farnsworth.
Staged development of a proposed $16 million multi-events centre at Whangarei’s Okara Park will begin within days – with a new pitch, refurbished north stand and embankments expected to be ready by mid-August.
Unimpressed officials have served an overseas boatie with a $750 infringement notice after an angry local photographed him emptying human waste into the Opua Basin from his yacht.
A new seawall should be able to be built in a One Tree Point area which has already seen a public safety issue caused by cliff subsidence, a Northland Regional Council Committee says.
The plant which treats Opononi and Omapere’s wastewater has been granted resource consent for the next decade.