The Grey District Council has refused to enter into a public debate about a plan to close a road near the Gloriavale Christian Community, as the issue heads to the Environment Court.

The secretive Gloriavale religious community owns assets worth $36.6 million, including a dairy farm, deer enterprise and an aircraft repair firm.

A young woman who left the secretive Gloriavale Christian Community told Campbell Live that she was the victim of a "wrong relationship" with an adult married man.

A professor who says Gloriavale tried converting him as a boy says the secretive community is feeling 'tremors' after the recent departure of several members.

A Canadian tramper who fell and dislocated his shoulder, forcing him to crawl for 10 hours to reach shelter, has been rescued eight days after his ordeal began.

The Gloriavale Christian Community wants a public road near its compound closed to prevent attacks from outsiders.

Two families who defied their Gloriavale leaders to leave will tell their story to the nation on the television news show Sunday.

A 78-year-old Westport man has been further remanded on bail to appear in the Greymouth District Court in June on charges related to historic sex offending.

A judge has taken a German tourist's word that she will voluntarily pay thousands of dollars in compensation to a motorcyclist that she seriously injured in a head-on crash.

A rental car driven by a tourist smashed through the plate glass window of a Hokitika automotive workshop, giving workers a fright and causing $40,000 of damage.

The daughter of Gloriavale leader Neville Cooper, who walked out of the commune after 41 years, says the latest family to leave face a hard road.

Gloriavale Christian Community has responded to accusations they were living in a "false system", by saying that "no one is here against their will".

A 21-year-old Westport woman sold $12,000 of furniture -including a couch and fridge - from the furnished house she was renting.

A family of 14 have walked out on a West Coast religious commune to start a new life after concluding they had been living in a “false system”.

A driver was swept more than 200m downstream and found clinging to a tree after his small truck went over a bank and into the Buller River.

"There were dead animals in drains." A vet has described an horrific case of mistreating cattle on a farm as the worst he has seen.