Stories by Maia Hart

An idea to "word bank" rejected Māori street names for developers to "pluck" from when building future subdivisions misses the point, says an iwi still waiting on tohutō promised two years ago.

More than half the responses to a survey on the future of Marlborough's roads say Sounds homeowners should pay more for Sounds repairs than other residents.

It is hoped a plan to protect another 64 "ecologically significant" parts of the Marlborough Sounds will reverse damage.

The health system faces uncertainty as it undergoes a restructure, one of Marlborough's health bosses concedes, after asking councillors to champion the need for "local stewardship" of health…

A stormwater pond in a new subdivision in Blenheim will not be fenced despite ongoing calls from concerned residents.

The number of people wandering into Te Kahu o Waipuna has more than doubled since its opening.

Following the severe flooding in Marlborough in July 2021 and August 2022, the distribution of landslides across the Marlborough Sounds was mapped and damage assessed.

With the prospect of higher rates for Marlborough homeowners, there's no straight forward answer for fixing the broken Sounds network, but some say it's understandable "there's a price to be paid".

Vehicles are no longer allowed on most of Marlborough's east coast following the adoption of a bylaw that recognises the "special stretch of coast".

Overseas recruits have been called in to help fill gaps in a labour shortage which has led to recycling and rubbish being chucked into the same rubbish truck and taken to landfill.

A Te Tauihu iwi member who tried to enter an anti co-governance meeting in Blenheim was stopped at the door, as were other whānau who showed up.

There was little money in the kitty for Marlborough District Council to hand out to community groups this year.

A Marlborough farmer does not want to hand over pine control on his land over concerns his "struggling" natives could get caught up in "chemical boom spraying".

A new art gallery in a "world-class" building in Marlborough can't open full-time because it is the "worst funded public art gallery in our country".

Multiple contaminants have been discovered in a Marlborough estuary in "crisis", adding pressure onto one of the "muddiest estuaries in the country".

Fears a child could drown in a Blenheim subdivision's flood-prone stormwater ponds have prompted a neighbour to call for fencing.

Whale jawbones held in safekeeping before being delivered to one iwi without telling another, was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi, a High Court decision has ruled.

Waitohi Picton will get two new air quality and climate monitoring stations after a year-long study found contaminants from ships is likely causing breaches in national air quality standards.

The local council's environment planner recommended the consent be declined, raising issues with the "unattractive" structure, described as having "little interesting features".

Marlborough's council is working towards new modelling of sea level rise that will work in with previous climate change work.

A forestry company is allowed to drive seven piloted logging trucks a day on Queen Charlotte Drive.

Other than one salmon found to be in "extremely poor health", all animals from EcoWorld Aquarium have been released or rehomed - even a stingray.

Vehicles have been banned from Marlborough's east coast, except for a 9km stretch during the day, in a bylaw that's been years in the making.

Businesses are booming in Picton, with ferries out of action and people looking for somewhere to stay - and something to eat.

The volunteers left for Auckland on Friday to help with a "variety of logistical tasks".