New Zealand Beverage Council members are broadly supportive of a wide-ranging plan unveiled by the Ministry of Health today to reduce childhood obesity levels in New Zealand. “The Ministry has clearly recognised that there is no single solution that will fix the obesity issue plaguing societies across the globe,” said NZBC President Olly Munro. The […]

Barrier Air has advised Far North Holdings and the Far North District Council that it intends to withdraw its daily flight between Kaitaia and Auckland at the end of January unless it can boost the number of people using the service. The airline has introduced a raft of new flexible fares from $99 each way […]

I cringe when I hear people describe power outages as “part of life in the Far North”. Because it’s one of the aspects of life up here that we at Top Energy have been working solidly to change since we put into place our TE2020 network investment programme back in 2009. Last week’s three-hour, region-wide […]

Far North power generator and electricity network operator Top Energy has confirmed that it has identified the most likely cause of the fault on its power system last Friday. Damaged insulators within the Kaikohe substation have been identified, tested and replaced today. But the company’s team of electrical engineers and specialist contractors have been unable […]

Top Energy electrical engineers think they have found the fault that caused the power outage that impacted homes and businesses across Northland on Friday. They suspect that there may be a broken insulator in the electricity substation in Kaikohe and are co-ordinating with Transpower to de-energise the assets and start repairs as early as this […]

Senior electrical engineering staff from Top Energy worked over the weekend to identify the cause of Friday’s power outage but do not have any answers yet. Together with engineers from Transpower they have analysed the sequence of protection mechanisms which operated on Friday. This has narrowed down the location of the cause to within 1,000 […]

A specialist report about the asbestos discovered at Ngawha Spa near Kaikohe has confirmed that material containing the substance was used in all but one of the seven buildings on the spa site and that some soil around the buildings has been contaminated with asbestos fibres. Technical professional and construction services provider Jacobs New Zealand […]

Non-alcoholic beverages sold at retail level in New Zealand will carry new Health Star ratings (HSR) on their labels as soon as practicable following a decision by members of the New Zealand Beverage Council (NZBC). Adding the HSR system to new labels has already started and it will be applied to all relevant products as […]

The Bay of Islands Marina expansion project at Opua was blessed today in a formal ceremony conducted by Reverends Hirini Parata of Moerewa and Glenys Davis of Kawakawa. Construction started today and is expected to take 15 months to complete. Far North Holdings chief executive officer Andy Nock expects to achieve an occupancy level of […]

Contractors employed to assess the degree of work involved to renovate the Top Energy Ngawha Spa have found significant amounts of asbestos on the site. New owner Top Energy was notified on Wednesday last week (16 September) and has since taken steps to secure the site, including closing the camping ground and the spa. Far […]

Contractors have hand-cleared more than 1.5 million wilding pines from 750 hectares of regenerating native bush in inland Hawke’s Bay. The work took place between August 2014 and July this year as part of New Zealand’s largest single indigenous re-forestation initiative. Hawke’s Bay-based Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust (FLRT) is taking control of parts of the […]

The contract to build the second stage of the Bay of Islands Marina has been awarded to Total Marine Services, a New Zealand company with a branch in Opua. The $10 million project includes the land-based civil works associated with the expanded marina. Work will start in early September and is expected to take 18 […]

Bay of Islands custom boat-builder Bluefix Boatworks is to merge with Ashby’s Boatyard in Opua and move its operation from Kerikeri to new, state-of-the art boat-building and paint shop facilities to be erected on Ashby’s premises. The company will shift its 10 employees to Opua, take on the five boat-builders who currently work there and […]

Top Energy and the Top Energy Consumer Trust have called for the Electricity Authority (EA) to go back to the drawing board over proposals that could see Far North communities facing electricity transmission increases of $266 a year, or 172 percent of current charges. These would result in power bills increasing by 10 percent overall.  […]

The issue of young children with rotten teeth raised in New Zealand media today by Dr Rob Beaglehole is one of poor parenting. No more and no less. Parents are, or should be, in complete control of what children of that age eat and drink. It’s a complete evasion of parental responsibility to shift the […]

Kiwi icon Rachel Hunter has welcomed the government’s decision to allocate more than $11 million for kiwi conservation efforts in this year’s budget. Ms Hunter, who is Patron of Hawke’s Bay-based Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust (FLRT), said the funding was likely to bolster the successes already being delivered by a wide variety of kiwi conservation […]

Navilluso Medical Ltd (NML) of Kaitaia is the recipient of the first $30,000 grant of 2015 from the Top Energy Business Development Fund. The money will help the company to develop a remote diagnosis and treatment facility for rural communities across Northland and beyond.  NML employs 21 doctors, nurses, health promoters and community health workers, […]

Far North lines network operator and electricity generator Top Energy has acquired the Ngawha Ginn Spa baths and farm as part of a land acquisition deal. The company intends to keep operating the facility and has closed it temporarily while it undertakes extensive renovations.  The sale was completed two weeks ago. Details remain confidential.  Top […]

A successful Hawke’s Bay whio, or blue duck, conservation project has received a $10,000 maintenance grant from Whio Forever, a species recovery programme launched jointly by Genesis Energy and the Department of Conservation (DOC).   The grant will enable the Forest Lifeforce Restoration (FLR) Trust to maintain the extensive network of predator traps funded by […]

A high resolution, continuous sounding of Whangarei Harbour’s deep-water navigation channel has been conducted for the first time. It gives harbour pilots, ships’ masters and others using the harbour entrance a picture of the channel bed that is far more detailed than the sounding sheets that have been used to date.  A multibeam channel profile […]

The Electricity Authority (EA) is consulting on changes to the way electricity transmission is charged by Transpower. These changes could mean significant increases to the electricity bills of people in the Far North.   The proposed increases are from $4.76m/yr currently, to $12.95m/yr, $12.85m/yr or $12.77m/yr depending on the option. The EA says this will increase […]

The Rotary Club of Kerikeri has won an award for a website and social media communication programme developed for the organisation by local public relations consultancy Due North with website developer Greenweb. The New Zealand club was presented with an award for the most effective website and social media presence by Rotary District 9910 at […]

Kaitaia residents have been urged to use their new air service to Auckland or risk losing it either partially or completely. The stark warning was issued today by Far North mayor John Carter at a ceremony at Kaitaia airport to mark the final Air New Zealand departure to Auckland. Great Barrier Airlines is picking up […]

Process units at Refining NZ will begin shutting down for three weeks of planned maintenance starting Saturday 2 May. The shutdown for regeneration of catalyst on the Platformer unit and other essential maintenance has required detailed planning and extra resources, including an additional 250 people on site, the majority from local contracting companies working at […]

Refining NZ has confirmed that the Te Mahi Hou project which was due to ‘go live’ in late December 2015 has made excellent progress in recent months, and is now expected to complete early to mid-November. The $365 million project which began in April 2012 replaces the aging petrol manufacturing unit with a modern CCR […]

Teeth from a nasty marine predator with a bad attitude from around 80 million years ago are the latest find to come from the fossil-rich Maungataniwha Native Forest in inland Hawkes Bay. Scientists from Wellington-based GNS Science have identified the beast as a mosasaur but the exact species has yet to be determined. Mosasaurs were […]

Public feedback on Refining NZ’s proposal to bring bigger crude oil cargoes to Marsden Point has set the stage for a series of expert studies of the harbour and any potential impacts of the proposal. The refinery is proposing that around half of all crude oil be transported on ships capable of carrying around a […]

Refining NZ is holding public information sessions next week about the Company’s proposal to bring bigger cargoes of crude oil to Marsden Point. The proposal could see up to half of all crude oil (around 20 million barrels a year) transported on ships carrying around a million barrels at a time, a move that could […]