The Rotorua Daily Post is looking back at the stories of 2023. Here’s what made headlines in December.
December 1
At full capacity, the Indian Star on Rotorua’s Eat Streat used to have 130 people seated for a meal – now it is lucky to have 30.
Award-winning restaurant owner Ray Singh, who also owns Urban Gusto, says customers used to wait in queues for 20 to 30 minutes “but now we are the ones waiting for them”.
Most nights he is “happy to be breaking even”.
Singh has had to reduce Indian Star staff numbers from 15 to 11 due to a drop in local foot traffic and was also grappling with soaring food costs.
“Fewer people are dining out because bills are going up and up.”
December 2
Fix crumbling teeth or keep their home? A retired couple say they are weighing up their choices in the face of a potential $48,000 council bill.
The Dawes – Owen, 82, and Margaret, 79 – have owned their Lake Tarawera cottage for 40 years and lived there permanently for the past 13.
Now they see their future threatened as they and 446 other property owners face the prospect of paying Rotorua Lakes Council between $43,700 and $48,000 to be connected to a new sewerage scheme – either in a lump sum or over 10 years.
He said they were “not really” able to afford the scheme without dipping into money set aside for if they got sick or needed dental work.
The council said reticulation aimed to prevent about 300,000 litres of untreated sewage from seeping into the lake each day.
December 9
A Rotorua woman with a rare and incurable disease says she feared she would die as she fought to overturn a decision blocking her from using her $25,000 KiwiSaver to fund life-extending treatments.
Kirsten Bangs told the Rotorua Daily Post that after a month-long battle, her withdrawal application was approved last week and had been paid.
She is now calling for KiwiSaver legislation to be reviewed to make the criteria clearer.
Under the KiwiSaver Act 2006, people can apply to withdraw funds early for serious illness permanently affecting their ability to work or posing a risk of death.
In Bangs’ view, the rules “were basically asking us to bring a crystal ball with us and let them know how my condition is going to be in the future and if I will react to treatment, will I go back to work and all these kind of answers that we just don’t know”.
December 14
The mystery of a lack of water on one of Rotorua’s most prized farms has been solved after a court found someone at a neighbouring property had tampered with a pipe to illegally take water and divert it to their own property.
Kevin John Davenport and Janette Marie Davenport have been ordered to pay more than $23,000 in compensation to the owners of Sunnydown Farms – a 606ha farm that wraps around the western boundary of Rotorua between the Utuhina Stream and Paradise Valley Rd.
Sunnydown Farms has just won its Rotorua District Court civil case claiming the Davenports had unlawfully interfered with the farm’s water right by taking more than 8.5 million litres of water valued at about $9000.
A counterclaim by the Davenports for damages arising from an incident when the farm owners allegedly trespassed on to their neighbour’s property was thrown out by the court.
December 18
For 36 years, the Lakeland Queen gave tourists and locals opportunities to cruise and dine on Lake Rotorua. But for the past three, the iconic paddle boat has been sitting on dry land.
Terry and Raewyn Hammond operated the business for decades until the Covid-19 pandemic forced the tourism business into hibernation, and 15 staff members were made redundant.
The pair now want to restore the business and need to replace their deteriorated lakefront jetty at an estimated cost of up to $460,000, but face what Terry Hammond views as a “preposterous” situation of being required to gift the new structure to iwi then lease it back.
Lakebed owner Te Arawa Lakes Trust says understanding the potential impact on the environment, water quality, taonga species and particularly regarding the dredging or lakebed disturbance required for the Lakeland Queen’s channel, “we emphasise that any such action would be subject to approval from [the trust], who represent the interests of hapū and iwi as lakebed owners”.
Details revealed about five men caught up in an underage prostitution ring.