David Bruce

Ratepayers "could spend millions" keeping the coast road between Oamaru and Waianakarua open against the threat of coastal erosion, Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton said yesterday.

The Oamaru Licensing Trust is making four people redundant at the end of this month, closing its head office in Oamaru and its wholesale liquor operation.

Dairy farms are still top of the agenda for three companies who want to develop them in the Omarama and Ohau areas - if they can get water approved.

A 108-section residential subdivision on prime land overlooking Oamaru is being investigated by the Waitaki District Council.

Weather is likely to play a part in the size of pumpkins weighed in at the Ardgowan School's pumpkin festival this Saturday.

Central Oamaru could have a lot more penny-farthing cycles wheeling along its streets under an "interactive tourism" project proposed by the North Otago advisory group of the Otago Chamber of Commerce.

The blue penguins at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony quarry site, along with resident marine biologist Philippa Agnew, are about to be part of a three-year research project which could help predict future population trends of the species.

The three district councils bordering the Waitaki River oppose the Government's plan to force Meridian Energy to hand over its two Tekapo power stations to Genesis Energy, fearing it poses significant risk to their communities' futures.

Waitaki tourism has gone against the national trend with an increase in tourists to the area last year, boosted by more New Zealand visitors.

Dairy farms proposed for the Omarama and Ohau areas were "a world-class proposal" which was a victim of misinformation, the three companies behind the development said yesterday.