Chris Morris

Dunedin City Council representatives outnumbered their audience, but empty chairs trumped them both, at last night's budget roadshow meeting.

A liquor and food retail development planned for an industrial zone in South Dunedin has been granted resource consent.

Results of an independent review examining the final cost of the Forsyth Barr Stadium will be scrutinised in public next month, Dunedin City Council chief executive Paul Orders says.

A brown scum accumulating on parts of Dunedin's coastline is a naturally-occurring algae, but dog owners should still keep their pets clear, a Dunedin City Council manager says.

Workers at Redroofs Rest Home in Dunedin will now not be walking off the job tomorrow, after the unions representing them placed plans for nationwide strikes on hold.

Plans for more commercial development inside the former Roslyn fire station are again raising the ire of some neighbours, despite initial support for the project from the Dunedin City Council.

Motorists face weeks of delays as major work to resurface State Highway 88 - between Ravensbourne and Maia - begins in Dunedin.

The rave reviews and acrimony that comes with Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium could soon be capped by a new accolade - the title of world's best venue.

Ask former All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry what he remembers most about the Rugby World Cup final and that trademark grin quickly spreads across his face.

The days of printed newspapers on doorsteps might be numbered, but not the demand for local news delivered in new ways, a Dunedin audience heard last night.

Developers seeking resource consents for new commercial projects in Dunedin are seizing on a draft planning document - yet to be signed off by the Dunedin City Council - in a bid to improve their chances.

The Dunedin City Council has heard nothing more from the company it believes is responsible for the St Clair sea wall repair bill, but says a negotiated settlement, rather than court action, remains the goal.

The Dunedin City Council's luck could run out if severe storms force it to bring forward millions of dollars worth of erosion protection work planned for Ocean Beach, a hearings committee has been told.

Dunedin city councillor Paul Hudson was forced to withdraw from yesterday's Ocean Beach hearing after being readmitted to Dunedin Hospital.

Neighbours living next to the Kilmog Quarry, north of Dunedin, have banded together to oppose a bid to triple the mining operation's production.

The prospect of two super councils spanning Otago - one for the coast and another inland - could be on the agenda, with Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull set to test the "appetite for change" with other southern mayors.

The Dunedin City Council remains tight-lipped about the possible sale of the Andersons Bay Crematorium to private interests.

The decision by Local Government Minister Nick Smith to resign his portfolios, hours after meeting southern mayors in Dunedin, may throw the timetable for local government reforms into doubt.

The independent review seeking to confirm the final cost of the Forsyth Barr Stadium will continue for another two weeks, but not because anything "untoward" has been found, Dunedin City Council chief executive Paul Orders says.

A quarry owner in a dispute with the Dunedin City Council over the size of the company's rock extraction operation is seeking resource consent to triple the quarry's production.