Rebecca Fox

Residents in Otago's high-pollution towns such as Alexandra, Arrowtown and Milton will not get a deferment from tight deadlines to improve their towns' air quality despite a Government announcement loosening the timeframes.

A kereru (wood pigeon) was released by Project Kereru members at Flagstaff yesterday.

Any delay in letting the public know the cost of constructing the Leith Lindsay Flood Protection Scheme had blown out was due to a lack of confidence in the figures provided by its consultants, Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said.

The Government needs to stump up financially and contribute to the flood protection scheme on the Water of Leith, Otago regional councillors say.

Fed up with the changeable, cloudy weather?

Construction of the nine-turbine wind farm at Mt Stuart, near Milton, will start in April, Pioneer Generation announced yesterday.

A Dunedin arborist has achieved what he believes is a New Zealand first - a master arborist qualification from the International Society of Arboriculture, in the United States.

Otago's increasing rabbit problem has been exacerbated by the heavy rainfall in the region in the past month, the Otago Regional Council says.

Dunedin Octagon's plane trees are showing a "noted improvement" (pictured far right, yesterday) compared with what they looked like in January last year when it first emerged they were being attacked by an unknown fungal disease.

A commercial bus service between Dunedin International Airport and the city would not be economically viable, bus service operators say.

They sold out of sausages in a couple of hours, which was a good indication of how popular the inaugural Kaka Point market day was, organiser Pauline Simpson said.

As the Pipes and Drums of Dunedin band marched up the memorial walk at Otago Community Hospice on Saturday, it was with a purpose: to put a smile on people's faces.