Northland news in brief: Top chef to judge Fritter Fest; and Kaikohe clinic to open

Katchafire will headline Whangārei's Fritter Festival later this month, which will have its fritter comp judged by top chef Nick Honeyman.

The head chef at Auckland restaurant Paris Butter, Nick Honeyman, is to judge Best Fritter award at the eighth Whangārei Fritter Festival on Saturday March 28 at Semenoff Stadium.
Trained as a chef in Australia, Honeyman moved to France where he worked at Michelin-starred restaurants. Moving to NZ, he worked as an executive chef at several high-level restaurants before opening Paris Butter, which has been listed in Metro magazine's Top 50 Restaurants. His job will be to judge fritters made by Northland chefs and present the Best Fritter Trophy to the winner on stage prior to Katchafire's performance. The public can also vote for their favourite fritter in the Pak'nSave People's Choice Award.

Kaikohe clinic opens

Kaikohe's new drug and alcohol recovery hub and support clinic will be officially opened at 10am on Monday. The clinic will be staffed by volunteers from 10am to 3pm Monday to Friday.

Man appears in court

A 49-year-old man charged with two counts of assault with a weapon and one of dangerous driving after a confrontation with residents at Whatuwhiwhi on February 23 appeared before the Kaitaia District Court on Friday. He was remanded on bail without plea, to live at an address at Whatuwhiwhi, and will appear again on March 20.

Leak fix offer taken up

So far 98 people have taken up a Far North District Council offer to fix household leaks in Kaikohe in a bid to reduce the drought-hit town's water use. About half the repairs were for leaking taps and slow leaks with the rest multiple leaks under houses, constantly running toilets and split underground pipes. Under the scheme the council pays up to $300 of plumbers' leak repair bills. It recognises that many Kaikohe residents are renters or on fixed incomes and can't afford to fix basic leaks.

New sewer pipe

Whangārei District Council will replace sewer connections by drilling a new tunnel for a sewer pipe 10m under the Hātea riverbed, crossing from Pohe Island to Port Rd.
Contractors CDS NZ Limited will bring specialist equipment to the site on Monday, March 9, and begin drilling the tunnel and then install the new 280mm polyethylene wastewater pipe cross where the Hātea River and Waiarohia Stream meet at Hihiaua. The work area will be fenced off to ensure that Hātea Loop users can continue their activities and the river will be able to be used as normal throughout the work. Once connected, the work sites will be cleared and returned to their original condition. The pipeline will be monitored and tested before it becomes operational.

Water restrictions breached

The Far North District Council responded to 68 reports of people breaching water restrictions in the last two weeks of February alone. Infrastructure manager Andy Finch said breaches included filling swimming pools, watering gardens with hoses or sprinklers, water blasting buildings, washing cars from a hose, and filling portable tanks. Most reports were made in Kaikohe (26) and Kaitaia (19). Finch said the council's focus in the first instance was on education. ''Nearly all those spoken to were unaware they were breaching water restrictions and stopped banned water use once restrictions were explained." However, anyone who repeatedly breached the restrictions could be fined up to $20,000.