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Building strengthening recommendations put forward by the Royal Commission report into the Canterbury earthquakes have been cautiously welcomed by the Waitaki District Council.

State Highway one between Glenavy and Morven has reopened after detours were put in place following a truck crash near Old Ferry Rd this morning.

In an early gesture of Christmas cheer, Oamaru ratepayers will fork out to shout residents in Kakanui a drink.

A proposed 22-section residential subdivision at Forrester Heights may not go ahead, even if a parliamentary select committee decision to reclassify reserve land as endowment land is ratified by Parliament.

Lead-footed out-of-towners have been warned police in Omarama will continue a strict approach to issuing speeding tickets, after a speed trap outside the town's school netted nearly 150 speeders in two weeks.

The Waitaki Concerned Citizens and Ratepayers Association yesterday accused the Labour Party of abandoning Oamaru's natural heritage after MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of a controversial Bill to confirm land at Forrester Heights as endowment land.

A $180 million movie about the life of Jesus Christ could still go ahead, if resource consents for sets are approved.

As engineers began work this week on assessing the cost of repairing the Oamaru Courthouse, the New Zealand Historic Place Trust (NZHPT) said it was confident the Ministry of Justice was doing all it could to save the 129-year-old building.

A driver, branded as a "danger to the community" by police, has had his car impounded after he was twice caught driving at nearly four times the legal breath-alcohol limit in the space of two days.

The 11th-hour efforts of organisers and volunteer helpers to prepare Christmas floats for the Oamaru Santa Parade on Saturday were rewarded with a huge boost in crowd numbers.

Community input is being sought to help solve the Waitaki district's "huge" coastal erosion problem.

Plans to redevelop the Omarama Memorial Hall into a $600,000 state-of-the-art community centre are to go ahead after the Lotteries Grants Board awarded the Omarama Residents Association a $290,000 grant.

ANZ bank customers in Waimate will have to deposit money at temporary prefabricated cabins after the bank's existing premises in Queen St failed to meet the bank's earthquake safety standards.

School children in Hampden are being issued with maps showing the safest way to cross the busy State Highway 1 running through the centre of the township.

A large part of Oamaru will have access to ultra-fast broadband (UFB) by July next year, after communications company Chorus announced yesterday it would start rolling out 14km of fibreoptic cable in the town.

Absent-minded motorists in Oamaru are being told they are making it too easy for thieves, after a police information campaign intended to encourage car-owners to lock vehicles found seven cars unlocked in the space of just 10 minutes.

A community group set up to investigate possible alternatives to the continued use of ageing septic tanks in Hampden has said it would be too expensive to install a reticulated system of wastewater management.