Lois Williams

The burgeoning Gloriavale Christian Community at Lake Haupiri is looking to expand with a second compound at Lake Brunner, West Coast council leaders have heard.

Reefton's long-serving weather guru Tony Fortune believes if people learned to burn coal correctly the town would not have a problem with air pollution.

The government's agreement to fund major flood protection work at Franz Josef Glacier has brought relief and new hope to the small tourist town.

West Coast councils are waiting to hear how much they will have to pitch in for flood protection work largely funded by the government as Covid-recovery 'shovel-ready' projects.

In a first for the West Coast, iwi and the regional council have teamed up with DOC to make the most of funds on offer for nature-based jobs

The West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board is backing a move by the government to ban the sale of moa bones.

Both tahr and deer numbers are now spiralling out of control in Westland, according to Conservation Authority member, Dr Gerry McSweeney.

The West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board is back on track after a six-month impasse with Ngāi Tahu over Treaty principles.

The West Coast wishlist of flood protection schemes looks set to be granted - at least in part after the government announced a $210 million investment in climate resilience.

A survey of freedom camping in Kaikōura has found most locals believe it is of little or no benefit to the town, damages the environment and poses a risk to health and safety.

A pilot scheme to attract more young Māori into health careers is being considered for West Coast communities.

It took a cheque from the government to get Fletchers to finish the new Te Nikau Grey Hospital for the West Coast, according to MP Damien O'Connor,

A West Coast iwi leader says the region's new combined district plan is a chance for councils to crack down in a more consistent way on problems caused by freedom campers.

After speaking with the Conservation Ministry Eugenie Sage, a West Coast gold miner says he's hopeful mining could be allowed on conservation land.

The West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board will hold its first formal meeting this year after a months-long stand-off with Poutini Ngāi Tahu.

The West Coast Regional Council has locked in its planned rates freeze for the year, and will borrow to cover the resulting budget deficit.

Patients who do not show up for medical appointments are costing the West Coast District Health Board more than $400,000 a year.

West Coast communities who rely on coal to heat their homes will suffer if tougher government rules for air quality go ahead, the regional council says.

Running out of food during the Covid-19 lockdown was the reason most Coasters called the Civil Defence hotline for help, it has emerged.

Hokitika township must start planning to move back from the coast, West Coast councillor Stuart Challenger says.

In 2017, a scientist advised removing a West Coast beachfront car park, saying it was making erosion worse. He was ignored, and then storms washed it away.

Kaikōura's district council is being urged to get real about recycling with a warning it could actually be encouraging waste.

Climate change caused by human activity, sea-level rise and the need to prepare for it - it is all a load of hogwash, the chairman of the West Coast Regional Council says.

The West Coast District Health Board has gone further into the red this month, to fund its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minister for Regional Economic Development Shane Jones has told West Coast councils that DOC stewardship land will be open for business if New Zealand First has any say in it after the election.