Local Council

Communities isolated by Cyclone Gabrielle are making the best of things as Civil Defence tries to keep essential supplies flowing.

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's (S&P Global) has rated how councils would be affected by Three Waters legislation, and found winners and losers.

Christchurch City Council's chief financial officer has defended the excess water use charging system, after public concerns about it being inequitable.

On the day Auckland was hit by the worst flooding event in recorded history, and the city's mayor came under fire for his inaction, Wayne Brown's diary was an empty slate.

A $30 million claim against West Coast Regional Council by a hotel, after its former Franz Josef site was flooded, puts the entire community on the line, council chief executive Heather Mabin claims.

Councillors have finalised the Christchurch City Council's draft budget for the coming year, which will now be put out for public feedback.

The budget proposes sweeping cuts to community grants and $16m less for Local Boards.

A Dunedin city councillor - who once told a candidate with cerebral palsy that he was not up to the job - has been removed as chairperson of the council's Disability Issues Advisory Group.

Motorists from outside Northland are being asked not to travel to the region today, as crews work to repair flood-damaged roads.

National Party transport spokesperson Simeon Brown says Waka Kotahi money allocated to a Gloucester Street overhaul would be better used filling in potholes.

Gisborne people clearing silt from flooded homes and businesses are not impressed with the council's solution on how and where to dump it.

The district's sole Māori ward councillor says she will not give up the fight to have every meeting start with one.

Only 9 percent of South Wairarapa residents are happy with council decisions and actions last year, a damning perception survey shows.