Stories by Lois Williams

With the dairy season at its peak, farmers breaching their resource consents have appeared on the West Coast Regional Council's black list for the first time in months.

The West Coast Regional Council has cut its losses and sold its share in a Canterbury-based pesticide factory.

The Department of Conservation has agreed to help with the cost of identifying significant natural areas on public conservation land.

A West Coast regional councillor is calling on Development West Coast to stump up and cover costs that are about to land on ratepayers because of the government's new environmental policies.

An American surgeon working in Greymouth has resigned, saying the people of the West Coast deserve better than a hospital essentially run by GPs.

Coal plays a small part in greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand, Minerals West Coast manager Patrick Phelps told West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board this month.

Kaikōura district councillor Neil Pablecheque has been given a formal warning by police after a complaint that he "attacked" a truck driver for parking in the wrong spot.

How do you get a stoat to swallow a dead rat? First take its photo. That's the cunning plan devised by pest control teams in a remote valley.

An "embarrassingly simple" intervention has made a dramatic difference in Māori patients' ability to keep hospital appointments, West Coast DHB staff say.

West Coast council leaders and conservationists are cautiously endorsing some of the new Cabinet appointments announced yesterday by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The Ngāi Tahu rūnanga is mounting a legal challenge to the Minister of Conservation's appointment decisions for the West Coast Conservation Board.

The West Coast Regional Council is forging ahead with the four flood protection projects it successfully pitched to the government as shovel-ready projects.

West Coast council leaders are hoping a new minister will be drawn from Labour's own ranks this term - and take a more pro-industry approach to the use of conservation land.

Any changes to the government's new freshwater rules are likely to be minor, according to the new chief executive of the West Coast Regional Council, Vin Smith.

The West Coast Regional Council and local iwi will make history tomorrow when they sign a formal pact to work together.

Saving Jellyman Park at Cobden from the sea will cost at least $1.6 million, and it is not clear who will pay for it.

Greymouth residents who already pay for flood protection will see their rates rise next year to strengthen the town's floodwalls.

Government funding to help farmers and councils deal with new environmental rules is "nowhere near enough" to cover the costs, West Coast Regional Council chairman Allan Birchfield says.

Neurology clinics have been cancelled for the foreseeable future on the coast and patients must now make the trip over the hill to Christchurch.

The days of seeing a different GP every few months may be soon be over for Buller residents.

West Coasters have weighed in with their thoughts on privacy at Greymouth's Te Nikau Hospital, after the issue came up at last week's meeting of the district health board.

West Coast District Health Board chairman Rick Barker says he is not opposed in principle to health reforms that would cull the number of DHBs around the country.

The West Coast Regional Council now has all the details of how much co-funding the government wants from Coast communities, if it is to go ahead with approved 'shovel-ready' flood protection projects.

Now is the time for Coasters to speak up if they'd like to see a favourite old tree saved from the chainsaw.

The government's new rules to protect freshwater quality are not fixed and final and will be 'tweaked' to accommodate regional differences in weather and other factors, Agriculture Minister Damien…