A handsaw attack on the limb of a pohutukawa tree obstructing a roadside walkway in Piha has ended a long, costly and spirited battle.

Auckland has a choice if it wants to open up more of its waterfront - let the port expand into the Waitemata Harbour or lose cargo to Tauranga and Northland.

The Auckland Council is considering a ban on demolishing tens of thousands of heritage and character homes unless owners can prove they are beyond repair.

Officialdom is taking offence at a renegade public artwork of graffiti-covered tanks at Wynyard Quarter.

A majority of Aucklanders want the Government to make a significant contribution to the $2.86 billion city rail link, a new poll shows.

The council bodies that soak up a lot of ratepayers' money are not impressing their political masters when it comes to reducing rates next year.

Residents of a small coastal town are refusing to pay for a $58 million debt that has crippled their local council and left them with the bill.

The Auckland Council wants to save $3 million by cutting out the time-honoured practice of verge cutting, writes Brian Rudman.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown is proposing a rates rise of between 1.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent in next year's election-year budget.

Twenty Auckland Council staff are set to lose their jobs when five visitor information centres are closed as the result of a cost-cutting directive from Mayor Len Brown.

Editorial: Having produced the big 30-year Auckland Plan, the council is now obliged to produce a more detailed 10-year plan to be called the "unitary plan".

A Hawaiian fire dancer performance at the Rugby World Cup and a leather iPad case are among the items slapped on rate-payer funded credit cards.

Heritage advocates and local residents waved placards outside a villa occupied by the Erawan Thai restaurant in Jervois Rd, Herne Bay this morning.

Auckland Council is considering cutting the number of unelected council-controlled organisations from seven to four.

Auckland ratepayers are spending $13.1 million a year to pay for seven boards of directors, seven chief executives and seven executive teams who run much of the Super City.

Mayor's efforts to increase public scrutiny of bodies that run three-quarters of Auckland only a partial success.

Proposal to outlaw liquor 24/7 in parks, cars, streets and cemetery to plug existing gaps.

Relationship with Auckland council on right path as mayor deals with old political divide

Brian Rudman looks at Auckland stadia. Should Eden Park be used soley for all rugby and league games? What should happen to Mt Smart and Western Springs?