Chris Morris

Sponsors backing Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium have reacted to news of the Otago Rugby Football Union's looming liquidation with a mixture of caution and optimism.

Revelations the Dunedin City Council is owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent by the Otago Rugby Football Union are "just not good enough", a furious Cr Lee Vandervis says.

The Dunedin City Council seems set to join a queue of worried creditors after confirming it is owed more than $400,000 in unpaid rent by the Otago Rugby Football Union.

The Otago Rugby Football Union will go into liquidation on Friday.

Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry - the man who promised the Forsyth Barr Stadium would be built "on time and on budget" - insists he has delivered.

Dunedin City Council staff will conduct a fact-finding mission at Te Rauone Beach, on Otago Peninsula, after claims urgent action is needed to address erosion in the area.

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has said he will not be "mucking around" after holding talks with the head of a residents' group claiming homes are threatened by erosion at Te Rauone Beach, on the Otago Peninsula.

The planned $1.5 million refurbishment of the former North Dunedin post office by the Otago Museum has won support from Dunedin city councillors, despite some verbal volleys aimed at the project's design.

Firefighters and police are at the Kingsgate Hotel in central Dunedin after a large fire broke out this evening.

Students fear Knox College's traditions are under attack, after the Presbyterian Church moved to ban initiation ceremonies, scrap elitist symbols and tighten rules on alcohol.

Hundreds of Knox College students and alumni are petitioning the University of Otago and the Presbyterian Church, calling for public consultation on plans to scrap some of the college's traditions.

Allowing coastal erosion to reclaim Kettle Park should be the start of a wider retreat from South Dunedin, a Dunedin City Council hearings committee has heard.

The Dunedin City Council is facing calls from some groups to save Kettle Park from erosion, and from others to let nature take its course.

Knox College master Bruce Aitken - on leave after being replaced by a Presbyterian Church commission - says he has few concerns about behaviour at the college, but accepts some traditions had to change.

A Dunedin driver said to be operating a rogue taxi service in the city could have "sinister" motives when offering late-night revellers rides home, police have warned.

A cost-sharing deal that could help tackle erosion at Te Rauone Beach, on Otago Peninsula, has been ruled out by the Otago Regional Council before it has even been discussed.

Erosion threatening the "entire existence" of Dunedin's largest rugby club has prompted the club's chairman to ask for new grounds.

The Otago SPCA will be encouraged to apply for a three-year civic grant from the Dunedin City Council as part of this year's annual plan process, despite withdrawing services previously offered to the council.