Stories by Lois Williams

Councillors who voted to forge ahead with mapping significant natural areas on the West Coast are likely to lose their seats at the next election in retaliation, the regional council chairman says.

West Coast Regional Council chairman Allan Birchfield has lost his bid to bar significant natural areas from private land.

Buller Electricity Trust chairman Frank Dooley is urging Westport people to get in behind the plan to protect the town with floodwalls and stopbanks.

Manawhenua have dropped objections to a mining venture on the Barrytown flats after the original plans were modified.

The elusive leak draining Reefton's water supply is still evading discovery but could be revealed soon, with the arrival of a team of expert leak detectives.

Reefton's public toilets could come crashing down in an earthquake - but replacements have been delayed in part because of debate and indecision about what the new loos should look like.

This week's meeting of the region's emergency management committee agreed to carry out a debrief on how the crisis was handled, with support from the National Emergency Management Agency.

A landowner whose family farmed near Franz Josef for decades says it is not the best idea to let the river have its way on the south bank, as the government and councils are now proposing.

In a shock move today, three members of the West Coast Conservation Board have resigned saying they have been called racist for raising what they see as conflicts between the interests of conservation…

The government and the West Coast Regional Council have finally signed off on funding for floodwall upgrades at Franz Josef Glacier.

The Cave Creek tragedy is generating lessons for new conservation recruits, 25 years after 13 students and a DOC worker plunged to their deaths from a jerry-built viewing platform.

West Coast ratepayers will not be in the gun for the hefty fine imposed on its former joint venture Pest Control Research, after one of its workers was poisoned by 1080.

The West Coast Regional Council's embattled chief executive Vin Smith has formally resigned after a three-month standoff, and looks set to find a new job with the Buller District Council.

There is no escaping the thorny issue of SNAs, councils and iwi on the West Coast are being warned.

Buller members of the West Coast Regional Council say criticism levelled at them by Mayor Jamie Cleine over the Westport flood was unfair and unfounded.

A $10 million flood protection scheme proposed for Westport would have prevented most of the devastation caused by last weekend's massive flood, according to West Coast Regional Council's operations…

The flood that swamped Westport at the weekend should convince even the most doubtful ratepayer that the town needs river protection work, West Coast Regional Council chairman Allan Birchfield says.

The government will invest $37 million in West Coast district councils to counter potential resistance to its looming water reforms.

A West Coast gold mine exploration venture that was injecting $500,000 a year into the local economy has been shut down by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

As West Coast ratepayers face the shock of hefty rate increases this year, the four councils explain why the hikes are necessary.

Drinking water in the Kaikōura district fails to meet the government's standards in all but one instance, according to the Ministry of Health.

Kaikōura District Council is warning dog owners they face hefty fines and large compensation bills if their animals attack livestock.

Police have responded to the concerns of a West Coast whānau that their son was singled out for attention because he was Māori.

Councils are supposed to have adopted their long-term plans by 30 June. The draft West Coast Regional Council plan has not even been finalised yet, let alone put out for consultation and adopted.

Iwi chairs on the West Coast say it is unfortunate Poutini Ngāi Tahu runanga were not involved in a recent health study that found instances of racism in the region.