Questions have been raised about Precinct Properties' planned $550 million 35-level Auckland tower.

Youth lobby group Generation Zero says Auckland Council's planned spending on new roads in its 10-year budget should be cut by $2 billion.

Conservatives leader Colin Craig says the party decided it would not stand in the Northland byelection because it did not want to split the centre-right vote and help Winston Peters.

Drains and water mains are the ultimate out of sight, out of mind assets.

The best thing that may be said about a 36-storey glass tower to rise on the site of Auckland's Downtown shopping centre is that it will provide tunnels for trains out of Britomart.

Ports of Auckland will start work in April on the first step to reclaim more of the Waitemata Harbour.

A debate on the future of the Waitemata Harbour and whether more of the seabed will be reclaimed for port use has started got off to an acrimonious start.

Wellington's barefooted Anglican Bishop Justin Duckworth has thrown his weight behind a campaign for a 'living wage' - recalibrated at $19.25 an hour.

There is strong opposition to a proposed Wellington super city, a survey has shown.

Hastings District Council finally pleads guilty over the death of a four-year-old boy who was run over by a tractor mower.

Auckland councillor and National Party member Linda Cooper has apologised after she called a man a "judgmental little c**k" on the Pride parade Facebook page.

Auckland's local politicians have labelled the Council's overseas postings to London and San Francisco an "outrage", while the mayor defends the decision.

Most libraries will have reduced opening hours, while some others will be extended, in a bid to save $1.1 million in Auckland Council's proposed budget.

Motorway tolls are gaining far more support from Aucklanders than lifting rates and fuel taxes to fill a $12 billion transport funding gap over 30 years.

'Economists make forecasts," said the late, great, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, "not because they know, but because they are asked."

Auckland boaties are rallying against council plans to weaken controls over further reclamation of the Waitemata Harbour for port use.

A legal battle with former chief executive Alex Swney has led Heart of the City to pull funding from cash-strapped projects.

Tony Holman writes: The secretive assets sales project highlights the anti-people, anti-democratic nature of the local government structure foisted upon the people of Auckland.

Rentals for the top 10 most popular "Bach Escapes" in Auckland regional parks are going up by 15 per cent, though summer holiday peak rates of $168 to $222 a night are still modest compared with those expected by private owners.

Auckland Council has voted to delay a decision on a central wharf strategy that involves further reclamation of the Waitemata Harbour.

Capacity constraints at the Port of Auckland feature high on the list of those eager to justify its expansion through further reclamation of the Waitemata Harbour.

New Zealand territorial authorities have assets of $117.4 billion yet extremely low debt levels of only $10.8 billion, says a financial chief.

Auckland councillors will make a huge call behind closed doors on Thursday on whether to stand firm against further reclamation of the Waitemata Harbour for port use.