Public fear around crippling rate increases is real. An expediential rise in the cost of growth associated with the proposed Unitary Plan is leaving Auckland panicked.

Auckland Council's budget committee has voted 16-7 for a proposal to increase rates by 3.5 per cent for each year of a new 10-year budget.

A new mountain bike park is in the pipeline at Woodhill Forest after iwi took over ownership, but cyclists also face an increase in fees.

Main work on the $2.4 billion city rail link will be pushed out to 2020 unless the Government comes on board with early funding, say officials.

The $2.4b City Rail Link could be deferred until 2020 because of mounting concerns by councillors about its impact on rates, debt and big cuts to community services.

So without enough to do, the elected body ponders long-term planning objectives and reads a great deal of paper on subjects such as environmental sustainability.

The Medical Council of New Zealand has issued an edict to the country's district health boards reminding doctors of their obligation to treat any Ebola patients.

The Transport Minister, Simon Bridges, may not be as loud and brash in his pronouncements as his predecessors but the message yesterday remained the same.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown has released details of a plan this morning for a $2 toll to enter the city's motorways.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown has released a plan this morning for a $2 toll to enter the city's motorways. Is this a good idea? Send us Your Views.

Aucklanders could pay a motorway toll of about $2 under a congestion-busting plan being unveiled by Mayor Len Brown today.

People do not have to be lawyered up to participate in the Unitary Plan process, says the judge chairing the independent hearings panel.

'Horrific" rates of nearly $50k a year on land still being grazed by livestock prompted the $37.9m sale of one of Auckland's largest land lots.

On election night, re-elected Prime Minister John Key pledged he would lead a third-term Government "for all New Zealanders".

Santa has been saved, with a family-owned company pledging money to keep him on Auckland's main street.

According to the Auckland Council, a planned ban on domestic open fires and the use of old wood burners from 2018 will not involve excessive costs.

Domestic chimneys will have to be cemented up or blocked in other ways before a house with an open fireplace can be sold under the Auckland Council's planned air-quality bylaw.

As the Labour Party goes through its latest leader selection circus, could I suggest they avoid anyone who admits to having visions.

The latest round of Auckland property valuations present, as usual, a double-edged sword.

Relatives of a man who broke his neck riding his bike into a Waihi sink-hole fear he will remain a paraplegic with a slim chance of much rehabilitation.

Council officials have yet to start investigating a sinkhole in Waihi in which a cyclist came close to dying last week, but their boss denies underground gold-mining is to blame.

A protest group halted the removal of a state-owned house in suburban Auckland today in continuation of housing demonstrations in the area.

An 85-year-old great-grandmother will lose part of her property to make way for a road extension - all because the council can't cut down a protected tree.

A unit featured in the Herald today as the home young Aucklander Ben Saunders was hoping to buy has gone to another bidder at an auction this afternoon.

Auckland housing affordability has deteriorated dramatically, with first-home buyers facing higher costs and fewer affordable properties in nearly every suburb.

With Nanaia Mahuta entering the race to be Labour leader, Bryce Edwwards asks if the days of the party’s ‘pale, male, and stale’ leaders are over.