Nick James

1 week ago | rnz.co.nz | Nick James

An advocacy group's legal bid to stop the shrinking of character-housing protections in Wellington has been shot down. In March 2024, Wellington City Council put forward its own recommendations for the district plan, after rejecting a range of ideas from an independent hearings panel. The council's recommendations included removing character-housing protections, cutting the city's 'character areas' from 206 hectares to 85 and allowing at least six-storey buildings for housing near trainlines.

1 week ago | rnz.co.nz | Nick James

The government has contracted an open ocean tug that will be on the water from Friday while it works on a long-term plan for a potential new national tug service. Local government leaders on either side of Cook Strait have been calling for open ocean tugs after several near miss accidents. One of these was in January 2023 when the Interislander ferry Kaitaki was sailing into Wellington Harbour with 854 passengers on board and lost power, which resulted in a mayday call.

1 week ago | radionz.co.nz | Nick James

An advocacy group's legal bid to stop the shrinking of character-housing protections in Wellington has been shot down. In March 2024, Wellington City Council put forward its own recommendations for the district plan, after rejecting a range of ideas from an independent hearings panel. The council's recommendations included removing character-housing protections, cutting the city's 'character areas' from 206 hectares to 85 and allowing at least six-storey buildings for housing near trainlines.

1 week ago | radionz.co.nz | Nick James

The government has contracted an open ocean tug that will be on the water from Friday while it works on a long-term plan for a potential new national tug service. Local government leaders on either side of Cook Strait have been calling for open ocean tugs after several near miss accidents. One of these was in January 2023 when the Interislander ferry Kaitaki was sailing into Wellington Harbour with 854 passengers on board and lost power, which resulted in a mayday call.

1 week ago | rnz.co.nz | Nick James

Wellington City Council has voted in favour of $439.5 million plan to overhaul its social housing, with one councillor dubbing it a "vote to give people dignity". The housing upgrade programme was established in 2008 and is a two-part plan between Wellington City Council and the Crown to maintain the city's current level of social housing over 30 years. The first part of the agreement, which was completed in 2019, saw the government provide a grant of $220m to upgrade 940 housing units.