David Loughrey

Two of Dunedin's biggest projects have remained in the city council's budget, with the Awatea St stadium surviving another debate and the Dunedin Centre-Town Hall upgrade possibly taking a new tack.

The future of heavy traffic routes through Mosgiel, the subject of heated debate for at least a decade, will be reviewed after estimated costs more than doubled.

Widely panned for vandalism of Dunedin's heritage, and blocking what critics say is a vista that must be protected

The heavy hitters of the Town Hall extension debate came en masse to the annual plan hearings committee yesterday, clutching a list of names featuring the great and the good of Dunedin society to back their cause.

The council has been asked to provide funding on two fronts that would have a final destination at the Edgar Centre.

Dunedin's private gymnasiums are losing members and struggling to attract new ones because of the lower prices at the Moana Pool gymnasium, the committee heard.

If there has been one constant refrain from submitters to the annual plan meeting in the last two days, it is concern about the level of spending, and debt, to which the council is committing itself.

A just-released peer review of the controversial Harrop St extension has suggested it be smaller, and that the land between the Dunedin Town Hall and St Paul's Cathedral be turned into a public space.

This year's annual plan hearings came with massive doses of déjà vu, as some well-worn arguments were trotted out about some well-worn issues.