Councils

Invercargill City Council has voted to develop a proposal for a single 'One Southland' council — and is now asking locals what they actually want before anything gets locked in. The push follows a Government announcement on 5 May, when Ministers Simon Watts and Chris Bishop launched a fast-track

Tuatapere's 110-year-old railway station is open again — this time as a café, bakery and visitor hub. The refurbished station was officially reopened on Saturday, with Southland District Mayor Rob Scott, Tuatapere Te Waewae Community Board chair Anne Horrell and Tuatapere Railway and Heritage Trust member Wayne Edgerton cutting

Invercargill City Council's management team has toured Southern Institute of Technology's campus — and left with a clearer picture of what the institute can offer both the city and its own 400-plus workforce. Hosted by SIT chief executive Bharat Guha and senior leaders including Trish Lindsay, Nick

Vandals have stripped the toilet seats from the Taramea Bay public facilities and smashed glass throughout the building — leaving visitors with nothing between them and cold stainless steel. Southland District Council crews have been on site to clean up and make the facility safe. The glass is gone. The seats

Invercargill and Southland mayors are clashing over how the Oreti River should be managed under proposed council reforms, with both citing the waterway as crucial to their preferred governance models. Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell says his council cannot accept Southland District Council's two-council model because it would separate

Environment Southland has cut its proposed rates increase again, dropping it to 3.25 percent for 2026-27. Councillors had already slashed the increase from the Long-term Plan's forecast of 12.6 percent to 3.9 percent. Today they endorsed a draft Annual Plan with a further reduction. The

Gore District Council will ask residents to choose between five options for reshaping local government across the south. The decision follows an extraordinary meeting today where councillors agreed to join the Government's Head Start reform process — a fast-track pathway that lets councils propose their own restructuring before compulsory

Southland council workers are being abused, threatened and hit by flying objects while doing their jobs. A mystery object smashed through a council vehicle's windscreen on a highway, showering the driver with glass. Environment Southland cannot explain what caused it. "As there was no traffic near the