Mark Price

Wanaka community swimming pool options could cost the town's ratepayers as little as an extra $3.06 a year or as much as $240.26 a year.

One of the two property developers vying to have the Wanaka community swimming pool built in their part of the town has failed in a legal bid to have a public consultation document amended.

The Queenstown-Lakes District Council has given up its long-running legal battle to secure the public's right to use Mead Rd, which runs across Hunter Valley Station beside the northwestern shore of Lake Hawea.

Anna Mackay and Sarah Shore have achieved the impossible.

The developers of the huge Northlake subdivision planned for a site northeast of Wanaka are making a concerted bid to host the town's proposed multimillion-dollar community swimming pool.

The New Zealand Government should stay out of the United States-led war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) in the view of visiting terrorism expert, Italian journalist and author Loretta Napoleoni.

Wanaka developer Allan Dippie describes the culture of the Queenstown Lakes District Council as ''one of the biggest impediments to the local economy'' - an assertion the council disputes.

The public of Wanaka is to be offered of choice of two sizes and three possible sites for a new $9.97 million to $12.72 million swimming pool.

Sports administrator Peter Wardell is about to embark on his sixth mission leading a team of New Zealand athletes to a major world sporting event.

Two tourists had a lucky escape after their rental car slid more than 200m down a ski trail at the Cardrona Alpine Resort yesterday afternoon.

The owners of a Wanaka rental car business are questioning the fairness of the way Lake Wanaka Tourism is funded.

The climber who died on Mt Aspiring on Sunday night was a ''sensible young guy'' who had only just achieved his goal of conquering the difficult south face when tragedy struck.

The Queenstown couple behind the Northlake development on the edge of Wanaka declined to discuss it with the Otago Daily Times yesterday.

The World Cup final appears to have cost some football fans a day's skiing yesterday.

Should the future ''town heart'' of Balclutha be based around Elizabeth St or John St, or both?That looks likely to be the central point for debate at a public submission hearing in the town this afternoon.

Police believe ''driver error'' was the most likely cause of the crash in which highly rated 17-year-old Arrowtown snowboarder Hamish Bagley died on February 16.