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More than an extra 1200ha is expected to be opened to irrigation in North Otago, after work began to expand the the Maerewhenua District Resource Company (MDWRC) irrigation scheme.

With four months still to go before local elections in October, mayoral candidates in the Waitaki district are already embroiled in debate.

Kurow and Duntroon farmers will have to pay more for irrigation water from one of the Waitaki district's oldest irrigation schemes, and irrigators warn costs on other schemes in the district would also rise in the future.

The Otago Chamber of Commercebelieves Waitaki residents may be facing larger rate increases in ''real'' terms than they are being led to believe.

Long-running efforts to progress a multimillion-dollar upgrade of cultural facilities in Oamaru are again on hold.

A buoyant job market and community spirit are being hailed as the main reasons for a fall in unemployment in Oamaru, despite the loss of 192 jobs at the Summit Wool Spinners plant just two months ago.

Business owners in Oamaru will this week get an opportunity to hear Construction Minister Maurice Williamson's thoughts on how building owners should deal with myriad challenges posed by strengthening regulations.

An Oamaru teenager who ended up with serious burns while playing with petrol after using the legal-high product K2 is calling for synthetic cannabis to be banned, and says he will be on the street, holding a protest placard himself, as soon as he can walk.

Police in Oamaru are urging both sides of a dispute over the sale of legal highs in the town to act responsibly, after a dairy owner yesterday allegedly turned a water blaster on a group of protesters campaigning against the sale of K2.

After nine years as mayor of Waimate, John Coles will not seek a fourth term in office.

Oamaru's ''spectacular'' Victorian buildings that make the town ''unique'' will not be left abandoned, empty or in need of demolition by new earthquake-prone building policy proposals, Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson has promised.

Elderly Waitaki residents living in community housing are hopping mad they were not told their rents were going up, although news media were told on Friday.

''Scepticism'' within the Dunedin and Oamaru business communities could lead to both centres being overlooked in favour of Nelson and Auckland as possible sites for the creation of two new New Zealand-based whisky distilleries.

Glenavy residents and businesses are hoping plans put forward by China's biggest dairy products manufacturer to set up shop in the town will result in a major economic upturn for the area.

As shift workers at the Summit Wool Spinners plant in Oamaru clocked off for the final time yesterday, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) said it was well placed to help them find new employment - and job offers are already being made.

Schoolchildren in Oamaru yesterday attended a public food demonstration to learn about food, as part of TV chef Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day - and then promptly sent an invitation to the British chef to come to Oamaru.