Glenn Conway

A push by Mahinerangi residents to have their land transferred from one council to another will be addressed by the Local Government Commission today.

Tenants of Clutha District Council-owned housing units will find out on September 11 how much their rent will rise and what kind of improvements will be made to their flats.

Otago residents may get a welcome one-off long weekend in the autumn of 2011, all thanks to an Australian.

A new series of Sunday markets will be held in Balclutha this summer.

The Department of Corrections seems unlikely to exercise its right to increase prisoner numbers at the Otago Corrections Facility in Milburn, from next July.

The Clutha Valley dairying boom and the subsequent demand for water has prompted consumers to ask for and get more units, but they will help pay for a scheme expansion needed to provide the extra water.

Waipahi farmers who have promised to buy units from a planned new rural water scheme could be tapping into it by this time next year.

Nurses who have let their registrations lapse will be targeted and encouraged to renew their qualifications to potentially return to work and bolster nursing stocks in Clutha as part of September's community wellness programme.

Tenants in Clutha District Council housing units could face a $5 weekly rent rise, to help pay for a major heating and modernisation overhaul of the flats, according to a report to be debated this week.

The first serious look into possible ratepayer-funded recycling services was presented to a Clutha District Council group yesterday.

Thieves have taken more than 10 tonnes of valuable scrap metal from a central Balclutha disposal site over the past two and a-half weeks.