Stories by Robin Martin

Opponents of a $50 million repair and upgrade of Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth have delivered a petition signed by more than 5000 people in an last-gasp attempt to get the decision overturned.

Dairy farmers are disappointed after Fonterra unveiled a record annual loss and signalled a back to basics strategy in a bid to return to profitability.

"Functionally" extinct in Egmont National Park 20 years ago - the population of whio on Mt Taranaki has grown to such an extent that they are taking up residence outside the park.

An ad campaign encouraging people to vote in local body elections - which features a poo emoji and the catchphrase 'Give a shit - vote today' - has kicked up a stink in New Plymouth.

In an upstairs room at a New Plymouth lifestyle block, a scientist is helping colleagues fly drones into volcanic craters half a world away in Papua New Guinea.

Bell Block residents and local hapū say they are "stoked" that the New Plymouth District Council is to be prosecuted over a massive discharge of raw sewage into the Mangati Stream in January.

A Whanganui couple's four-year fight battle with EQC after a third of their property was lost in a landslide during the 2015 flood event has ended in failure.

A New Plymouth councillor is wondering what the council is trying to hide after it refused to release emails written by the mayor and senior staff about him.

More than a third of exposed sewerage pipes criss-crossing New Plymouth streams and rivers have failed a risk assessment that measures the threat of discharge.

A secret briefing on the perilous state of New Plymouth's water pipes has raised the ire of council aspirants in the city.

The government has added $12 million more to redevelop and strengthen the heritage-listed Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui.

Taranaki's tourism earnings are set for an annual boost of about $4 million a year after confirmation of a $13.3 million Provincial Growth Fund investment in Egmont National Park.

The number of freshwater samples at Taranaki swimming holes reaching an "alert" or "action" status for contamination last summer continues poor run of results for the region.

A Stratford woman, who as a teenager was the youngest person in the country diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, is getting behind the message that the provinces are missing out on neurology services.

A former New Plymouth mayor who campaigned for a Māori ward on the council is sceptical that a new voting system being used this year will return a more diverse group of councillors.

A rough sleeper in Hawera described as harmless has unwittingly found himself front and centre of the South Taranaki mayoralty race.

Members of a Te Ātiawa hapū stood up one after another in a New Plymouth court room to pour scorn on a former police senior sergeant who stole almost half a million dollars from his own relatives.

If you've ever fancied owning one of New Zealand's archetypal back country pubs now's your chance.

The outgoing boss of Taranaki rugby freely admits he'll "be remembered as the CEO who presided over the worst year in our very proud history".

It's been a 10-year struggle for recognition of Māori burial grounds in the Taranaki region, a local kaumatua says.

A woman has a suspected broken collarbone after being slammed into the side of her home during a tornado in New Plymouth this morning.

The Taranaki District Health Board has backed down on a proposal to limit access to the emergency department at Hāwera Hospital after hundreds of locals came out against the idea.

A man who was swept 600m out to sea at a New Plymouth beach is lucky to be alive after being plucked from the ocean in a dramatic rescue.

Visitor numbers at the Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth has more than halved a year after a controversial door charge was introduced for out-of-towners.

An organiser of the first Whanganui Heritage Month - which kicks off this weekend - says New Zealand is losing its heritage buildings at an alarming rate.