Inexperienced and overconfident boaties are risking their lives launching and retrieving their vessels on Kaipara’s treacherous West Coast beaches, worried officials say.
All Northland Regional Council offices will close from 2pm Wednesday, 24 December until the morning of Monday, 5 January for the Christmas-New Year holiday break.
New air quality rules mean burning backyard waste will be effectively banned in urban Whangarei from December.
Water quality tests to determine how safe Northland’s most popular beaches and rivers are for swimming are under way again.
Nine Northland schools are to be recognised for a range of environmental initiatives - including community planting days and organic gardens - at the region’s third annual Enviroschools Awards next month.
Northland Regional Councillors have agreed in principle to fund a $500,000 share of a proposed Kerikeri-based multi-use sports facility.
Spills of animal waste which badly polluted an Aranga stream have collectively cost the owners of a Kaipara dairy farm – and a contractor who worked with them - more than $67,000 in fines and court costs.
Thirty-eight students from 20 Northland schools gathered for a special Youth Summit at Whangarei’s Onerahi foreshore recently to discuss coastal environmental issues – and what they could do to make a difference.
Northland SuperGold Card holders will be able to ride Whangarei’s CityLink urban bus service for free during off-peak hours from Saturday, 1 November.
More than 40 applicants are seeking Northland Regional Council Recreation Fund backing for wide range of projects from martial arts mats to a new gymnasium.
Dredging to remove thousands of tonnes of built-up silt from about 4.5 kilometres of Whangarei’s Hātea River channel - including part of the Town Basin marina channel - is due to begin within days.
A $1 million-plus concerted campaign designed to halt the spread of invasive Manchurian wild rice - and then steadily reduce its impact in Northland – gets under way in earnest this month.
Northland’s 30-plus Enviroschools are being urged to get their applications in this month for the 2008 Enviroschools Awards.
A range of rainfall and river data – including flood warning levels - is now available on the Northland Regional Council’s website.
Northland Regional Council (NRC) maritime staff have begun removing illegal moorings as part of an ongoing programme to update mooring identity tags.
Thirty-nine students from 20 Northland schools will gather for a special Youth Summit at Whāngārei’s Onerahi foreshore this month to discuss coastal environmental issues – and what they can do to make a difference.
Northlanders dropped off about 40 tonnes of obsolete computer equipment and unwanted mobile phones for recycling as part of national ‘eDay’ at the weekend.
Two firms are to compete for the right to design and build a proposed $16 million multi-purpose regional events centre at Whangarei’s Okara Park.
Applications for resource consents will continue to be processed by the Northland Regional Council in Northland – not Hamilton.
A range of changes to the way the Northland Regional Council Community Trust (NRCCT) is run will include a broader focus designed to strategically grow Northland’s economy.
The summer boating season is fast approaching and the Northland Regional Council is keen to talk to boaties about some important issues involving the management of Northland’s coastal waters.
A desire to reduce delays caused by heavy traffic flows along Whangarei’s Maunu Rd is behind the latest ‘tweak’ to the CityLink bus service.
More than 10,000 sea squirts have been removed from a Bream Bay marina in a groundbreaking pest control partnership between local authority staff, the marina operator and student volunteers.
More than 150 projects ranging from protecting sand dunes to pest control have been awarded a share of this year’s $500,000-plus Northland Regional Council Environment Award.
Northlanders keen to dispose of their obsolete computer equipment or unwanted mobile phones safely are being urged to take advantage of an upcoming national recycling day.
A 17-year-old Okaihau College student’s study on mangroves in the Hokianga Harbour has earned him this year’s Northland Regional Council ‘Excellence Award’ at the Top Energy Far North Science and Technology Fair.
People interested in learning more about the importance of sand dunes - and ways to help protect them - are being urged to attend a free workshop at Baylys Beach next month.
Northland Regional Councillors are to embark on a three-day fact-finding tour to gather first-hand, up-to-date information about a raft of issues facing Northland.
An application to build a new 30-metre long private jetty in the Kerikeri Inlet has been turned down by a local authority committee concerned it would add to ‘adverse cumulative effects’ on the coastal environment.
Community, recreational and sporting groups and Northland’s three District Councils are being invited to apply for a share of a special local authority recreation fund.
A local authority panel is recommending the Minister of Conservation allow staged development of a network of up to 200 underwater turbines – capable of generating enough power for up to 250,000 homes – in the Northern Kaipara Harbour.
Rat poison can be dropped from the air next year to kill rodents on offshore islands in the eastern Bay of Islands (Ipipiri), a Northland Regional Council Hearings Committee has decided.
Officials have recovered an estimated 3150 litres of diesel, lubricants and other oils from a wooden-hulled fishing boat which ran aground in the surf at Waipapakauri, on Ninety Mile Beach this week.
Officials are facing an “extremely difficult” task trying to recover thousands of litres of diesel on board a wooden-hulled fishing boat aground in the surf at Waipapakauri, on Ninety Mile Beach.
Officials are maintaining an anxious vigil over a fuel-laden, wooden-hulled fishing boat which ran aground overnight and is today being battered by the surf at Waipapakauri, on Ninety Mile Beach.
Northland Regional Council chair Mark Farnsworth and Whangarei Mayor Stan Semenoff say Northland’s standing in rugby has no bearing on the need for Whangarei’s planned multi-events centre at Okara Park.
Northland appears to have had a lucky escape as heavy rain - and resulting flooding – failed to materialise as predicted overnight.
Widespread flooding looks almost certain in Northland overnight with latest forecasts confirming 80-100mm of heavy rain is due to start falling on the sodden region from about 3pm today.
A new storm expected to hit Northland tomorrow is poised to deliver worse flooding than that experienced at the weekend, experts are warning.
Torrential rain has now eased in Northland but officials are warning people to keep a wary eye on the region’s rivers, many of which are expected to continue to rise over the next 24 hours.
The rain and winds lashing Northland are making their presence felt with surface flooding and power cuts in parts of the region and rain-swollen rivers tipped to top their banks this afternoon.
Northlanders are in for a wet, windy and wild weekend with forecasters predicting heavy downpours, severe gales and big seas.
Wet ground conditions in the Lake Omapere area have forced organisers to postpone a community planting day planned for Sunday 3 August.
Five firms – including Northland’s Kerr Construction – have been shortlisted to put their design-build ideas forward for a proposed $16 million multi-purpose regional events centre at Whangarei’s Okara Park.
The Northland Regional Council has made the first of what are likely to be several passenger-driven ‘tweaks’ to the new CityLink bus service.
Time is running out for applications for a $500,000 Northland Regional Council fund designed to help people protect and enhance the region’s precious natural environment.
Dredging to remove thousands of tonnes of built-up silt from about 4.5 kilometres of Whangarei’s Hātea River channel could be underway within several months if a resource consent application currently being processed is successful.
Passengers with 10-trip concession tickets for Whangarei’s current public bus service are being reminded time is running out to use them up before new a bus company begins operating on Tuesday 1 July.
Extra spending to reduce the risks from 23 flood-prone rivers and to better manage regional development are among new initiatives in the Northland Regional Council’s freshly-adopted Annual Plan.
Community vegetable gardens, propagating areas, native worm breeding and recycling systems are among 15 school projects that will receive $15,000 funding from this year’s Northland Regional Council Environmental Curriculum Awards.
Improvements to forestry access roads have received a boost with the Northland Regional Council and the New Zealand Forestry Owners Association managing to secure another three years of funding for the work.
A change in Deputy Chaiman and reassignment of Committee membership are two of the main changes to its governance structure announced by the Northland Regional Council today.
The Northland Regional and Whangarei District Councils are calling for expressions of interest for a $16 million multi-purpose events centre at Okara Park.
Lake Omapere Project Management Group organisers are poised to begin their annual planting programme of thousands of native trees and flaxes at Lake Omapere.
Anyone wanting to stay overnight on a boat may have to make sure it’s fitted with a portable toilet, holding tanks or a sewage treatment system under possible changes designed to better protect Northland’s marine environment.
Passengers with 10-trip concession tickets for Whangarei’s current public bus service are being asked to ensure they use them up before a new bus company starts operating on 01 July.
The cost of travelling on Whangarei’s public bus service will rise from July 1 with skyrocketing fuel costs linked to the first increase in ticket prices in six years.
An independent consultants’ report has identified a $16.53 million events centre option as closely matching both Northland Regional Council funding conditions and the amount of money actually available for the project.
A ‘relatively abundant’ infestation of the unwanted marine sea squirt ‘Styela clava’ has been discovered during a routine sweep of the new Marsden Cove Marina by a dive team contracted to Biosecurity New Zealand.
The Northland Regional Council’s website www.nrc.govt.nz has beaten more than 80 other local authority websites to be judged the best of its kind in New Zealand.
The first steps have been taken towards possible development of a multimillion dollar publicly-owned broadband network tailor-made for the Northland region.
Northlanders have a week left to have their say on a variety of Northland Regional Council projects proposed for the next year - including $900,000 of new spending designed to reduce flood risks.
An Opua boatyard has been granted replacement resource consents allowing a variety of discharges over the next 10 years.
Applications open soon for a $500,000 Northland Regional Council fund designed to help people protect and enhance the region’s precious natural environment.
Northland schools are being urged act quickly to try to secure part of a $15,000 special Northland Regional Council award which aims to boost environmental education.
An independent review has recommended significant changes to the way the $12 million Northland Regional Council Community Trust (NRCCT) is run.
Parts of Northland – including Whangarei Harbour and the eastern Bay of Islands - will effectively be off-limits to marine farming in line with the community’s wishes, the Northland Regional Council confirmed today.
Far North Holdings has been granted resource consent to deposit up to 45,000 cubic metres of marine dredgings and clean fill on to a several-hectare Opua site over the next decade.
Northlanders have a month from Saturday (12 April) to comment on a variety of planned projects – including $900,000 of new spending designed to reduce flood risks – as detailed in the Northland Regional Council’s Draft Annual Plan 2008/09.
Passenger transport company NZ Bus has been awarded a $7.5 million local authority contract to run Whāngārei’s public bus service for the next five years.
People can extract their own gravel from dry river or stream beds, provided they meet environmental standards and can gain access to the site through a public area or with the permission of the adjoining land owner.
There’s good news – and bad news – but few surprises in the latest comprehensive report on the state of Northland’s environment.
Independent Commissioners have granted retrospective resource consent for a 200-metre long, two-metre high earth embankment designed to allow for stock and vehicle movements during Kaipara flooding.
Biosecurity experts hope a highly invasive and environmentally destructive pest grass that until recently infested more than 100 hectares of Northland harbours and rivers will be all but wiped out within six years.
Northland Regional Councillors today approved a $20.6 million draft 2008/09 budget, which includes a proposal for about $900,000 of new spending designed to reduce flood risks around the region.
About $1.2 million of works will be carried out to reduce flood risk in the Awanui, Kaeo and Kaihu River catchments over the next 16 months.
More than 60 Northlanders are expected to this week play a role in the largest Civil Defence emergency management exercise New Zealand has ever seen – based on a mock eruption in Auckland.
About 20 people from several agencies are to gather in Northland this week for an exercise involving a fictional ‘oil spill’ off the Paihia wharf.
Relieved authorities have successfully removed 1500 litres of diesel fuel from the large fishing boat grounded on a Far North reef.
Relieved authorities say an inspection today has revealed most of the diesel fuel carried by fishing boat grounded on a Far North reef remains on the vessel and is in no immediate danger of escaping into the sea.
An Auckland-based salvage team is expected to take advantage of greatly improved weather conditions to this morning board and assess a fishing boat which grounded on a Far North reef yesterday.
Diesel is continuing to leak from a fishing boat grounded on a Far North reef, with bad weather hampering authorities’ efforts to deal with the resulting two-kilometre long slick.
An Opua-based oil spill recovery team is en route to investigate a diesel spill off the Mangonui Harbour entrance caused when a roughly 20-metre long commercial fishing vessel grounded in bad weather early today.
A new era in local government in Northland may have been signalled with Northland Regional Council and Whangarei District Council announcing a proposal to look at a one-stop-shop local government centre for Whangarei.
Northlanders – especially those north of Whangarei – are being warned to keep a wary eye on river and stream levels with about 150mm of rain expected to fall over the next day or so.
The Northland Regional Council has formally agreed to proceed with the formation of a 50/50 joint venture to share the costs of designating land for a proposed Marsden Pt rail corridor.
‘Barbecue bunny bangers’ are the latest in a line of pest food-themed treats the Northland Regional Council is to give away at the upcoming Dargaville field days.
Biosecurity experts are urging Northland landowners to once again turn their attention to controlling a familiar – and highly invasive – plant foe.
Used oil, anti-freeze and paint are among a host of environmentally harmful substances being illegally tipped or spilled down Northland’s stormwater drains and finding their way into the sea.
Time is running out for members of the public to have their say on plans for a joint venture to secure land for a proposed Marsden Pt rail corridor.
A Towai sharemilker has been fined $23,000 after a trial in which a Whangarei jury found him guilty of polluting a stream with animal effluent from an overflowing treatment pond.