Damien Grant writes: By law, Watercare has to keep the overall costs of water at minimum levels.

We rate how Len Brown has fared on his 2010 election pledges.

In the months ahead Aucklanders can sample the city's vibrant cultures, writes Alexia Santamaria.

"Who wins when the Auckland Council and the Government do not agree on the approach to affordable housing?" asks Mai Chen. "Or when Auckland's unitary plan should take effect?"

Brazil, Nepal and Finland are among far-flung countries visited by Super City staff, who have racked up a $10.5 million domestic and international travel bill in two years.

Ask Phoebe Ratepayers in Rodney District are charged a levy of $89.34 a year, allegedly to support the transfer stations in our area whether we use them or not.

The towns of Pukekohe and Warkworth and communities served by the Northwestern Motorway are among rural areas earmarked to contribute to Auckland's population.

In a bid to cut down unnecessary hospital admissions, five Auckland organisations have set up a temporary 'safe house' for out-of-control revellers.

Fixing Auckland's housing is too significant a challenge to the entire economy to let it get caught up in petty politicking.

Aucklanders are now able to go online and discover how their own home and neighbourhoods are affected by the new masterplan, writes Brian Rudman.

A property developer who has copped flak for proposed apartments at Milford hopes Auckland's Unitary Plan will provide more certainty.

The days of the Takapuna Beach Holiday Park on the North Shore of Auckland may be numbered.

The Government is becoming increasingly heavy-handed over Auckland's housing shortage, with talk of a new Crown agency to free up more land.

Aucklanders have never embraced the kind of concentrated living arrangements envisioned in the Unitary Plan, writes Dick Quax.

Milford on Auckland's magnificent North Shore ticks all the right boxes for residential intensification.

Auckland's Westpac rescue helicopter service is considering asking a court to reinstate a $300,000 cut in its 2013-14 operating grant from the Auckland Council.

A Grey Power official's complaints about immigration have been labelled uninformed, but the group's central Auckland president says they reflect the feeling of many elderly.

Auckland has 2000 new sections ready to build houses on, says Mayor Len Brown, who last month claimed there was enough land for 15,000 homes.

Youth worker Flora Apulu tells Elisabeth Easther what she loves about living in culturally diverse Manurewa

The Auckland Council says it will not tolerate people eeling in public parks after an eel trap was recently found at Western Springs.

Echoing demands from Prime Minister John Key that Auckland Council free up farmland for housing development, Dr Smith is vowing "to break through the stranglehold that the existing Metropolitan Urban Limit has on land supplies".

New Housing Minister Nick Smith is vowing to break the "stranglehold" of Auckland Council's policy of containing urban sprawl .

Affordable housing will be missing when Auckland Mayor Len Brown unveils plans today for a swanky new housing development at Wynyard Quarter on the waterfront.