Stories by Robin Martin

Whanganui is banking on domestic tourism to help it ride out the worst of the economic downturn caused by Covid-19.

The Regional Economic Development Minister has blamed iwi sensitivities and Department of Conservation red tape for the lack of progress on the $13.3 million Taranaki Crossing project.

The budget for the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment and strengthening project in Whanganui will cost almost $15 million more than estimated in 2016.

Māori and people under 30 are those worst hit by job losses in Taranaki because of Covid-19, according to the region's Chamber of Commerce.

A Taranaki iwi has walked away from the project, saying it had to battle to find out how millions of taxpayer dollars were being spent - and that it still wasn't clear.

OMV New Zealand is to spend $15 million refurbishing its new headquarters in New Plymouth, a move the oil and gas company says underscores its long-term commitment to Taranaki.

New Zealand's oldest stone church - the 173-year-old cathedral which played a pivotal role in the 1860s land wars - has been closed since 2016 due to earthquake risk.

A five-yearly census has revealed Egmont National Park is experiencing a whio population boom.

A truckie who jumped down from his cab to rescue a kiwi from the jaws of a stoat last year has taken the encounter full circle.

The public are being urged to report sightings of one of the world's most invasive pest plants - alligator weed - in the Mangaone Stream and lower Manawatū catchment.

Seventeen sites with regionally significant ecological values have been identified as new candidates for the Key Native Ecosystems programme in Taranaki, covering an area of more than 3000 hectares.

A controversial proposal for a new subdivision in the beach settlement of Ōākura in New Plymouth has been rejected.

The family of a man who died in custody at the Hāwera police station last year say they were stone-walled by police when they tried to find out what happened to him.

A short phasing traffic light at road works is being blamed for holding up hundreds of holidaymakers in gridlock in the Awakino Gorge on State Highway 3 in Taranaki yesterday.

Covid-19 adds further pressure to some cities already struggling with squeezed rental property markets, as the number of vulnerable people unable to afford housing also rises.

Five Taranaki projects have made the shortlist for government funding for 'shovel-ready' projects, including a revamp to Yarrow Stadium, but some aren't so convinced.

Proponents of an idea to build massive offshore wind farms off the coast of Taranaki are being warned its surf breaks will soon be protected and cannot be disturbed.

Farmers in parched regions of the country say the rain that has fallen over the past 24 hours is a small reprieve - but it's no drought breaker.

A lifelong friend of the man shot and killed by police in Waitara this week says he doesn't hold a grudge against the officers involved in the death of Alan Rowe - who he simply knew as Snow.

The man who was shot dead by police in northern Taranaki last night has been named.

Taxpayers could end up liable if a ship anchored off Taranaki spills any of its 40,000 barrels worth of crude oil.

Renovations on a heritage building have set tongues wagging after they revealed signage dating back to when New Plymouth only had four-digit phone numbers.

A New Zealand man living in Brisbane has given up hope of seeing his dying mother in Auckland because he can't afford to be put in mandatory quarantine on both sides of the Tasman.

Desperate to get to New Zealand to see her mother before she died, a woman applied for an exemption to the travel ban but it took too long.

A Hawke's Bay farmer says the government's latest drought relief package - a $500,000 fund for advisory services - is a "drop in the ocean".