Far North news in brief: Council fees up; blaze from car fire and quad crash

Far North District Council is increasing fees for LIM and property files.

Report fees up

Fees for Far North District Council LIM reports and property files are being raised to address rising operational costs that have created a gap between the fees charged and the true cost of providing the services. The user-pays charge covers 53% of the cost of producing property files and 69% for LIM reports. This has resulted in a growing reliance on rates income to cover the true cost. The fee for obtaining LIM reports will rise from $319 to $395 and property files from $26 to $33.50, which will shift the portion paid by the user to 85%. The changes take effect from November 11.

Blaze from car

Authorities have confirmed a car fire from which a man was rescued in the Far North on Thursday was also the cause of a sizeable scrub fire. Police were previously unable to say if the two incidents south of Ōmāpere were related until a fire investigator had inspected the scene. One person was airlifted to Middlemore Hospital in a critical condition after sustaining serious burns from the crash at Diamond Road, off State Highway 12.

Second quad accident

There was another serious quad bike accident in the Far North on Wednesday - only three days after an earlier one. Wednesday’s incident was in a rural area of Kaeo at about 11am. Emergency services responded with Hato Hone St John dispatching a rapid response unit and a helicopter. One person was critically injured and flown to Whangārei Hospital. The crash followed one at Mangamuka on October 20, in which another quad bike user was also flown to hospital in critical condition.

Spoken word workshops

Free spoken word poetry and songwriting workshops will be held in Kaitāia next month. An open mic evening, and free workshops, will be held at Peekaboo Backyard Eatery on November 30, with DJ Exile also spinning some tunes. If interested email kurarose@gmail.com.

Lotto win

A Northland Lotto player is more than $46,000 richer after Wednesday’s draw. Twelve lucky Lotto players secured second division wins, each receiving $32,522. However, the Northland player was one of two to also win Powerball second division, taking their total prize to $46,534. The Northland player bought the ticket online through MyLotto.