Stories by Felix Desmarais

Rotorua's late ratepayers owe the council nearly $6.5 million, with the oldest outstanding rates bill ballooning from just over $300 to nearly $52,000 in 11 years.

Residents at a Fenton Park retirement home are petitioning the council over a recent influx of heavy vehicles using their street. Video

Rotorua's homeless will be moved out of parks and reserves if they pose a risk to public safety in a move their advocates say will leave vulnerable people with "nowhere to go".

A former farmer and forestry worker says he is "genuinely concerned" that a tree near a playground in a Rotorua park will fall and "kill someone".

A Rotorua Lakes councillor claims the mayor offered him a leadership role - but only if he quit a ratepayer lobby group that has criticised her leadership.

Trees lining a road in the Rotorua suburb of Fordlands have been pruned at a potentially hazardous angle, some residents say.

Rotorua's deputy mayor has made a formal complaint against a councillor for what he says is a "hell of a lot of mistruths" in a December social media post.

Rotorua locals give their views on the issues facing the region over the next decade. Local Democracy Reporter Felix Desmarasis asked locals what they want to see over the next 10 years.

Rotorua locals are "disgusted" after a pile of hard rubbish, including meth pipes, condoms, a broken trampoline and children's blackboard, was dumped near a treasured athletic field. Video