The Press

Christchurch tree canopy dwindling on residential land, and council ‘hamstrung’

Urban trees cool our neighbourhoods, improve air quality, and support biodiversity. But data suggests big chunks of Christchurch’s canopy are being lost from private homes and gardens – and there’s only so much the council can do. In a new study,...

Two failed firms owe $13m

The collapse of two large Christchurch businesses – owing creditors a total of more than $13 million – is being blamed on Covid-19. Dry foods packaging company Wimpex Ltd has debts of $11.2m, according to a second report released by liquidators since...

Tools of a home stager

Sharn Potaka founded her own home staging company, Evoke Home Staging, in 2017. Then it was a one-woman show, but now she has a team of 15. Together they stage hundreds of homes a year, helping show them in the best light to potential buyers. The...

Power hikes

Rural patients can’t find a doctor

Darfield resident Tony Gan is among those facing problems accessing basic healthcare – with some staying enrolled with their Auckland GPS.

Interest in solar heats up

Canterbury has become New Zealand’s busiest region for new residential rooftop solar installations, with new connections nearly double those in Auckland and Wellington. Electricity Authority data suggests Canterbury’s solar market was already gaining...

Beyond the roll call Anzac stories that shaped our history MAINLANDER

Rialto View

Wastewater scheme on track

The “egregious act” of discharging treated wastewater into Akaroa Harbour will end after the city council’s decision to push ahead with its land-based irrigation plan. A cost increase of close to $100 million forced the Christchurch City Council to...

Ratepayers overcharged $4.7m

Ratepayers in Selwyn who were overcharged for their rates after a staff blunder actually paid $4.7 million in error – more than three times the original suggestion. The district council initially said “some” ratepayers had been given the wrong bills....

Govt fuel relief for schools ‘good start’

A raft of new government supports – aimed primarily for rural schools – are being hailed as “a good start” but will leave many teachers and parents struggling with the increased cost of getting to school. Yesterday, Education Minister Erica Stanford...

Crowds pack Ruapuna

Lara Mcmurray has been a fan of Supercars for years but could never afford to travel to watch a race live – until this weekend when the event landed in her backyard. The Christchurch motorsport enthusiast and 65,800 others packed Ruapuna Raceway over...

City attracts thousands from near and far this weekend

Fans from around the country and over the ditch are descending on Christchurch for a bumper weekend of events, from racing cars and sports matches to an 1980s Ocker rocker. Almost every large venue in the region is involved this weekend, with bars,...

Stadium trial run

As opening day for Christchurch’s new stadium draws closer, 10,000 Canterbury Crusaders fans arrived at the $683 million venue last night to test out its facilities. Each paid $2 for the experience, which included their team training on the pitch.

City ‘will never be without chlorine’

Christchurch’s water will never be chlorine-free, even with $1.5 billion and a generation of infrastructure upgrades, the city council says. Staff told elected members at a public workshop it would take two decades of investment “at best” before the...

Own a Corner of Clyde

TITLED SECTIONS READY TO BUILD ON NOW STARTING FROM $395,000

Goldmine could be declined

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has issued strong warnings over a controversial goldmine proposed for Central Otago. Simon Upton has told the fast-track panel considering Santana Minerals’ application for a large goldmine near...

South draws short straw

A $40 million Government fund to attract major events to New Zealand was run through a closed, non-contestable process, with an independent panel shortlisting events and ministers making the final decisions. Newly released Ministry of Business...

From Cake Tin to Cupcake

Ceasefire in name only

When US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war no-one was thinking about a fly on the wall – Lebanon. Much of the focus of the war so far has been on the brokering of a period of no bombs and the economic fallout of...

Middle East ceasefire

War Pauses but the Uncertainty Doesn’t

Fuel crisis

Should cycleways be fast-tracked?

The Woman in the Wall

Compelling, credible journey through trauma

Darfield growing pains

The small Canterbury town of Darfield is in the grip of a construction boom that will see sections developed for thousands of homes – outstripping even the house-building surge of nearby Rolleston. Construction analyst Mike Blackburn said more than...

Stolen stone The pounamu black market fight

The pounamu black market fight

On a screen near you

ENTERTAINMENT Make a date with Miranda, Michael and Mario

Carters sell Rolleston land

Land that could hold about 1000 new homes in Rolleston has been put up for sale by the Carter Group as developers clamour for land in the town. The 28ha block is a piece of the larger Rolleston West subdivision, which gained Selwyn District Council...

Small-screen highlights

The rapid rise of Rolleston

Rolleston is on the brink of another transformation, with 5000 new homes set to drive its population beyond that of Invercargill or Rotorua. The town, which is in the country’s fastest-growing district, is on track to fulfil former prime minister...

Man of 'extraordinary determination'

Doctor, clinical researcher and father with a hidden soft spot – Eric Espiner has died at the age of 91 after a lifetime dedicated to medicine. Espiner had a brain bleed before dying peacefully at Ashburton Hospital on Wednesday morning. Speaking from...

Diesel surge squeezes rural NZ

Spiralling diesel prices are rippling through every corner of the rural economy, pushing up costs and wiping out profits. A North Canterbury farmer says he has never experienced anything like it in his lifetime, while the owner of a construction...

Changed man

The last time the Hurricanes lost to the Queensland Reds in Wellington, Athletic Park was still in commission and rugby greats Christian Cullen, Tana Umaga, John Eales and Tim Horan went toe to toe. Two of the form sides in Super Rugby Pacific 2026...

Kim and me: Two stumbles world a part

Kim Kardashian and I have much in common. We’re both partial to oxygen, we’ve both piled it on a bit around the hips and we both nearly came a cropper last week. I was driving in Lyttelton with stirring music on the radio, a bit of Tchaikovsky,...

Teenage parrots ruling the roost

‘Gangs’ of cheeky kea are in abundance in Aoraki/ Mt Cook and Arthur’s Pass. Locals and visitors are pleased to see them, but they are not as welcome on building sites.

Why US wants NZ minerals

A proposed critical minerals deal with the United States has been pitched as a potential boost for the West Coast economy, with officials pointing to ports, road and rail links, housing and health services as part of the opportunity. Newly released...

Press Power List No 1

The Press Power List 2026 has thrown the spotlight on the South Island’s most influential individuals. One person stands head and shoulders above the others: Richard Peebles. Liz McDonald asks how he found himself at the head of a property...

The South Island’s most influential person named

10.Tipene O’regan. Now 86, the former kaiwhakahaere of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, who steered the iwi through the Treaty settlement process, maintains serious mana and influence while his knowledge of history and his talent for political leadership have...

Too many NZ airports?

New Zealand may have too many regional airports, as rising fuel costs and shrinking services force a reckoning over which ones can survive. The 20%-plus jump in fuel prices since the Middle East war began last month has triggered questions about the...

Trackless tram trial likely

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger says he and city council staff are working towards a trial of trackless trams, and an early proposal may be just a few months away. However, the preferred supplier butted heads with Auckland Transport just a year ago –...

Stormwater plan

A multimillion-dollar stormwater treatment plant may be built inside Christchurch’s Hagley Park as the city council seeks to improve water quality in the Avon River. The plant is expected to take 90% of sediment and about 65% of dissolved metals out...

Dumping costs ratepayers

Illegal dumping is not just an eyesore, it’s costing Canterbury ratepayers almost $3 million a year. Figures from the Christchurch city, and Selwyn and Waimakariri district councils show the growing financial toll of rubbish being dumped illegally or...

‘Wrong kind of heritage’: Rejection forces costly redesign

A Christchurch developer says the city council rejected its original design for a heritage-inspired apartment building near the Arts Centre because it was from the wrong period – forcing an 18-month redesign that cost up to $800,000. Brooksfield Homes...

Dome destined for red zone or scrap pile

A Christchurch man says he will scrap a heritage dome he saved after the earthquakes if the city council refuses to support his plan to donate it to the red zone. Paddy Snowdon, a demolition expert and heritage conservationist, bought the Regent...

Virginia Fallon

OPINION

Response to Covid-19 ‘effective’

The Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was effective but imperfect, a Royal Commission has found. The second leg of the powerful inquiry – secured in coalition agreements – interrogated key decisions about vaccine safety and mandates,...

GET YOUR glow ON

Let’s be real: skincare routines can be a total snooze. Ten steps, a million ingredients and half the time no one knows what they actually do. Everyone’s over buying products that flop or leave skin feeling meh. Imagine if happy, glowy skin was...

Edge of blue

Niue is one of the world’s smallest countries, situated on one of the world’s largest raised coral atolls. But as far as conservation goes, Niue is a heavyweight. It has provided protection for its skies, land and sea. Niue was the first country to...

Goodbye Gap Filler

Coralie Winn is standing in the sun on the patio of a cafe in Lyttelton, looking out over the harbour. She teaches pottery in the building next door, and when the cafe gets too loud, she asks the barista to unlock the closed outdoor area, and leads me...

Motel billed $46k for water after leak

A Christchurch motel owner is reeling after receiving a $46,000 bill from the city council for excess water use. Raj Gordon, owner of Samhil Motor Lodge on Riccarton Rd, fixed his leaky pipe and provided the council with the invoice. But he says it...

Operator chosen

Christchurch brewer and bar operator Cassels has signed a deal to open in the Arts Centre’s old Student Union/dux de Lux building, but the move hangs on ratepayer backing. The Arts Centre has launched a social media campaign lobbying for public...

Truffle operation hopes to go global

A $10 million investment in rare black winter truffles aims to put Canterbury on the world map as a main exporter of the delicacy. Trufa Aotearoa Ltd has secured consent from the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) to expand onto a new 10-acre block in...

‘Take shelter’, PM tells Kiwis in Iran

At least 1750 Kiwis have found themselves in a conflict zone with no promise of rescue following a United States-israeli military strike on Iran during the weekend that is likely to have far-reaching implications, including in New Zealand. While...

Iranians rejoice, mourn

Iranian New Zealanders have expressed their joy, relief, anger and fear following major air strikes against their homeland that have left the Middle East in turmoil. The United States and Israel launched the attack at the weekend, with strikes in the...

The show will go on

Electric Avenue, Australasia’s biggest music festival, continues in Christchurch’s Hagley Park today after red-hot excitement yesterday despite the cool weather – as 45,000 tickets were sold for each day.

Cathedral crisis

The campaign to restore Christchurch’s Anglican cathedral is exclusively targeting ratepayers for the money to restart work on the mothballed project. Eighteen months since halting the $200 million-plus restoration project, Christ Church Cathedral...

House valuations

Some city suburbs rise, some fall

Museum cost up yet again

The cost to redevelop Canterbury Museum has increased again, this time by $15 million – and local councils and the Government are being asked to pick up the tab. The museum announced yesterday that the project is now expected to cost $261.9m, up from...

Months of closure after flood

'Wipe out' for owner of Little River Cafe

Civic Building repair bill rises

Christchurch City Council’s Civic Building is in worse shape than originally thought, and the repair bill, already over $1 million, continues to rise. Problems with the building’s six-storey annex, fronting Worcester Blvd, were identified in May,...

Further fall from grace

Spending the day in police custody was hardly how Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would have wished to celebrate his 66th birthday – but, for once in the life of the former prince and Knight of the Garter, his power and position could not prevent it. His...

Square left behind

When Christ Church Cathedral’s tower and spire of fell on February 22, 2011, it was thought 22 people had died in the rubble. There was a viewing platform 30m up the 63m-high spire that gave visitors an elevated but intimate view of the square. It was...

Design that delivers

With their children having left the nest, this middleaged professional couple was moving into a modern apartment on Wellington’s waterfront. It was a blank canvas in terms of interior design, and the pair engaged interior designer Sandra Aiken, of D...

‘We’ve lost everything’

Dozens of primary students are holed up at a marae, properties are damaged and Little River’s main road has become a “raging river” after unprecedented rain crashed over Banks Peninsula. The area entered into a local state of emergency yesterday as...

15 years post-quake

Into the gorge

‘Hey, Emma, do you want to see a crocodile?” my guide asks from her kayak. Standing barefoot on my paddleboard, in only my swimsuit and lifejacket, I pause mid-stroke and consider my answer. “Uh ... yeah,” I eventually say, apprehensively. As it turns...

Appeal hearing

This week, convicted murderer and terrorist Brenton Tarrant’s case was heard at the Court of Appeal in Wellington. He was seeking leave to appeal his convictions and to vacate his guilty pleas for killing 51 people and injuring 40 at two Christchurch...

Back to race after 43 years

More than 40 years after they stood on Kumara Beach for the first ever Coast to Coast event, three of the 79 starters will take on the 44th edition of the race. Alister Metherell, 67, from Christchurch, Rex Randell from Nelson, and Julian Carne, 67,...

Cash prizes to help root out pretty pink invader

It’s hairy, pink, and two metres tall – and the regional council needs the public’s help to get rid of it before it chokes up Canterbury’s waterways. Environment Canterbury (Ecan) has launched a “great willowherb hunt” until the end of February....

Ratepayers hit again

Christchurch ratepayers are facing a 7.96% rates increase this year and could also end up paying more to park in the city, swim at the council’s pools, register their dog and be buried. Under the proposals a family could end up paying an additional...

$6.2m app isn't an app

Reaching individual fitness goals is now all about dialing up expert support that’s tailor-made for each person. Because whether the goal is to complete an upcoming half marathon, manage a niggly pain or just be that little bit fitter for the kids,...

New beach beckons but don’t pack your togs

Christchurch is about to get a new beach, butyouwon’twanttoswimatit. A 180m long “soft beach” is among a suite of work planned to help protect South New Brighton and Southshore from erosion and flooding along the Ihutai Avon-heathcote Estuary. The...

Fish foretold river collapse

Every year, in the waning heat of summer, the Rakaia River reliably flashed silver with salmon. Hundreds would cast lines into the river’s milky, glacial flow, hunting for the heaviest fish and the prestige that came with it. The Rakaia fishing...

Life Savings

Teachers Cherie Boyd and Angela Paxon were shocked when Water Safety New Zealand instructors tested their year 6 class from Christchurch’s Te Kura o Rātā Templeton. Out of their 24 students, only eight could swim competently when tested at Templeton...

Making her mark HOMED

Tina Worthington took over running her family’s fifthgeneration farm in Taranaki 17 years ago, and she and husband Bryan bought the worker’s house and two acres. The garden consisted of hedges, two cherry trees, a large rhododendron and little else,...

South Island gets denser

Townhouses are quietly changing what it means to build a home in the South Island, and the latest consents data shows the shift is no longer just a Christchurch story. Numbers suggest the building downturn has eased, with new dwelling consents up 11%...