Chris Morris

A proposal to cut opening hours at Dunedin's central city library would inconvenience more than 35,000 people each year, and could lead to job losses, Dunedin City Council library services manager Bernie Hawke says.

A proposal for a new council-controlled organisation (CCO) to run Dunedin's water assets has been roundly criticised by two city councillors.

Library opening hours could be reduced, and financial support for heritage and home insultation programmes could follow, as the Dunedin City Council eyes possible cuts to services during the next financial year.

A Dunedin city councillor says his colleagues should also volunteer to be drug-tested, but Mayor Dave Cull warns sobriety is no guarantee of good decision-making.

A pile of smashed masonry and timber was enough to bring tears to the eyes of Dragon Cafe waitress Lyn Kennedy in Dunedin yesterday.

More southern employers are opting to drug-test their staff, and the New Zealand Drug Detection Agency said business is booming in Otago and Southland.

Plans for a multimillion-dollar retail complex in Green Island, to be built inside a refurbished old iron roller mill building, are to be presented to the Dunedin City Council within weeks.

The transformation of Dunedin's John Wilson Ocean Dr into a shared space for walkers, cyclists and motorists is likely to cost less than $1 million, but the results could be "quite magnificent", Dunedin City Council staff say.

Random testing and the use of covert electronic surveillance could be among powers to be used by the Dunedin City Council to root out drug abuse by its staff.

Dunedin brewer Richard Emerson has built his business from humble beginnings, helped by his family, a few good friends and a taste for a nice drop. Chris Morris reports.

The permanent closure of Dunedin's scenic John Wilson Ocean Dr to vehicles looks likely to come a step closer today.

Dunedin dentist Gary Marks had good reason to savour his Christmas dinner this year, having experienced a taste of the squalid conditions of a French colonial-era prison in Cambodia.

A report on the future management of Dunedin's water infrastructure, which could lead to the formation of a new council-controlled organisation (CCO), will be considered by city councillors next month.

The launch of Dunedin's new kerbside collection system has come another step closer, with the signing yesterday of the multimillion-dollar contract for the service.