Northland news in brief: Chicken farm, SH1 closure, Parkinson's meeting, rape accused, tourism spending

Commissioners have yet to be appointed to hear submissions on a proposal for the country's largest broiler chicken farm near Dargaville. Photo / File

Chicken farm submissions

The appointment of commissioners to hear public submissions on a proposed broiler chicken farm in Northland is a few weeks away.

Tegel wants to set up a broiler chicken farm at Arapohue with a capacity to stock up to 1.3 million chickens and employ 28 people. It's expected to be the largest of its type the country.

Only 17 of the nearly 5000 submissions are in support of a proposed broiler chicken farm. Northland Regional Council received 2458 submissions with seven in support while 2234 were lodged with the Kaipara District Council and only 10 were in favour of the farm.

The councils will organise joint hearings before the commissioners, who will make a final decision on the proposal.

SH11 still closed

A section of State Highway 11 in the Far North will remain closed until Friday because of wet weather, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) says.

NZTA crews were still working to clear a slip past Lemons Hill on the highway that happened in February. The road was closed to all traffic at the weekend because of forecast heavy rain, which also prevented any slip clearance work going ahead.
The road connects Kawakawa and Paihia.

Last week the road was open to one-way convoys of traffic in a single lane past the slip between 7.30am-8.30am and between 4.30-6pm.

The road was closed at all other times while clearance of the February 13 slip continued.

Parkinson's meeting

The power of humour, positivity, kindness and creativity in building resilience will feature in a Parkinson's Northland public meeting tonight.

The meeting, at the Kamo Club, from 7pm tonight, features Susie Abraham and Peter Garelja focusing on the four aspects as Parkinson's - The Inside Story.

The meeting is for those with Parkinson's or anybody curious to learn more.

Rape accused opts for jury trial

A Northland chef accused of raping a sex worker has elected a jury trial.

Bijil Sebastian, 29, of Paihia has pleaded not guilty to two charges of unlawful sexual connection and another of rape. The Crown alleges that all three charges involve a sex worker. A four-day trial is scheduled to start in the Whangarei District Court on Monday next week. Sebastian is on bail.

Tourism spending up

Tourism spending in Northland grew yet again - this time by 8 per cent to reach $110 million in March.

Figures released by the Ministry of Businesss, Innovation and Employment show tourism spending grew in all regions. The West Coast, Taranaki and Otago were the fastest growing in March, compared to March last year.

From the $110m spent in March, New Zealand visitors forked out $76m, Australians $8m, United Kingdom $7m, Germany and the rest of Europe $5m, and the US $4m.