Councillors are bracing themselves for a dressing down by government ministers over Christchurch City Council's failure to retain accreditation for building consents.

Aucklanders subdividing their land have decried big infrastructure and development fees, with one Flat Bush resident charged more than $500,000.

League great Tawera Nikau is after a vacant spot on Waikato-Tainui's tribal governance board.

Stripping the Christchurch council of its building consent authority is drastic, but made by an objective authority. And other councils should take note.

Almost half of New Zealanders support the adding of fluoride to their drinking water despite councils increasingly dumping it, a Herald-DigiPoll shows.

The Auckland Council is toning down controversial plans for small-scale apartment buildings in half of suburban Auckland.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown is facing a mayoral challenge from the head of the council's Pacific Peoples Advisory Panel, the Rev Uesifili Unasa.

The council's communication over the Unitary Plan was poor from early in the process.

Parking wardens who are being verbally and physically abused are being armed with cameras to curb and capture aggressive behaviour.

In 1975 I was the Visiting Fulbright Professor at the University of Auckland.

The housing crisis in areas like Auckland is not a by-product of migrants buying up residential properties, Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse says.

A group set up to find ways to pay for Auckland's long-term transport needs is under fire for how much it is spending.

Former shock jock Michael Laws - once an MP and mayor of Wanganui - is thought to be considering a rerun for his old mayoral job.

Natana Pohe watched commercial fishermen head out into Mahia Peninsula's waters to pick up their crayfish cages.

The Auckland Council is getting into detail behind closed doors on the hot button subject of high-rise buildings.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown is sticking with a projected population growth figure of one million more Aucklanders.

A new report says housing has become a battle between old and young - and the younger generation certainly isn't winning.

Central government is encouraging local bodies to become more focused and efficient. Many are considering mergers with others and seeing how to cut costs.

A group that helped to convince the Hamilton City Council to remove fluoride from its water supply says it will continue lobbying other councils throughout New Zealand to do the same.

Nine-year-old Isla Lodewyks is so upset the Auckland Council took down a rope swing in Puhoi that she has started a petition to get it back.

Health advocates say a Hamilton City Council decision to drop fluoride from its water supply will mean a costly decline in oral health and the poor will suffer most.

Muzzled and waiting in a sterile room for the vet's lethal injection, this was the last sight that 3338 dogs in Auckland saw.

Maurice Williamson's brief flirtation with fame is officially over, writes Brian Rudman. Dithering cost him his chance to become an international gay icon.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum put on a right royal show for the Queen's coronation anniversary.

Central government politicians have called a roundtable meeting in Wellington tomorrow to look for ways to control street prostitution in South Auckland.