Parts of Central were without power again today - the third time in two weeks.The outages occurred in parts of Alexandra, Omakau and Moa Creek just as an electrical storm was passing over the district, with some customers remaining without power for up to seven hours.  According to the Aurora Energy website, there were 228 customers in Omakau who were without power from 10.40am. It was estimated to come back on at 5pm. While it did return, it was short lived before going off again and not returning until about 8.30pm.In Moa Creek the power went out at about 1.15pm affecting 302 customers. It was estimated to come back on at 6pm.Parts of Alexandra also lost power at 2.20pm, affecting 853 customers. It was estimated to return at 6pm. Many of those customers were also left without power on January 19 and 23, when a widespread outage affected almost 8000 customers extending from Clyde to Ettrick and Lauder Flat.While Aurora Energy could not provide a likely cause for today’s outage, it has been investigating the earlier incidents, which it suspects could have been caused by a tree or animal.At the time of the outage on January 19, one of the two lines that feed the Central Otago network from the Clyde grid exit point was out of service to enable Trustpower to undertake essential maintenance on their grid assets.The third power outage in two weeks affected customers in Alexandra, Moa Creek and Omakau today. IMAGE: The Central AppAurora Energy general manager for network operations Matt Settle said it meant electricity was being supplied to the region via a single line.“Unfortunately, we experienced a fault on this line, at a location on the line where it had the most impact - cutting supply to all customers.”He said, under normal operating conditions, if the two lines were operating, the fault would not have been noticed as the second line would have taken over supply.The cause of the fault has not been identified. “Having patrolled the line, we do know that there were no visible faults with the line itself and at this stage we suspect an outside interference such as a tree, or animal contact.”He said both of the lines were in service when the second outage occurred on January 23.However, this time a fault occurred on the Aurora Energy line that had been out of service on January 19, Matt said.“When we have two lines in service, a fault on one line should not cause an outage to customers because ‘protection systems’ switch the load onto the in-service line.”He said the January 23 outage happened when the primary protection system didn’t operate as planned, which caused a trip to both lines and loss of supply to all customers.“It is important to note that there was no heightened ‘safety risk’ at the time, but the protection didn’t manage the fault and load transfer as intended. We have since corrected and tested the protection settings.”He said although Aurora Energy didn’t find the direct causes of the two outages, it planned to do a specialist acoustic inspection to ensure it didn’t miss anything.That work is planned for mid-February.It also plans to review the animal protection mitigations that are in place, such as possum guards.Stay as up to date as possible via Aurora Energy under reports, power outages in The Central App.If you're having any difficulties and would like to let us know the situation you are in, please email [email protected] more: Sequence of events cause of recent power outagesRead more: Central Otago power outages prompts investigationRead more: Power restored across Central

First home buyers in Central Otago will now have preferential purchasing options for developments on council owned land, under a provision agreed on by councillors yesterday.Staff members Saskia Righarts and Louise van der Voort have been working on new housing policies, and part of this work includes different typologies for developments such as at Gair Ave in Cromwell and Dunstan Park in Alexandra.All but one councillor agreed to push forward with several new recommendations to address the district’s housing problems, in conjunction with the Central Otago Housing Group.Council will continue to explore opportunities and advocate for funding to provide more affordable housing in the region, despite its decision in 2022 not to gift land to the Central Otago Affordable Housing Trust.Saskia said first home buyers would get the opportunity to purchase the land, or land and homes package ahead of people who may be wanting a second dwelling such as a holiday home, with the aim of giving young people the opportunity to enter the housing market.In 2023, only 15 per cent of buyers of real estate in Central Otago were first home owners, the same as Queenstown Lakes, but nationally the figure was much higher at 27 per cent.The new provisions could also go some way towards lifting the 18-30 year old demographic of the area and keep young people living here.Councillor Stu Duncan said even in the Maniototo, the price of housing had doubled in the past two years, and every corner of Central Otago was affected by the strong real estate market.This led to councillor Tamah Alley questioning whether first home buyers could even afford a house in Central Otago anymore?Mayor Tim Cadogan said there was no harm or loss of income to anybody by implementing the new preferential purchasing options.Councillor Nigel McKinlay was the only councillor against the proposal, calling it meaningless and lacking data.Deputy Mayor Neil Gillespie refuted his claim.“What data do we need? There are those who are new home owners and those that already have a home. We’ve got to do something. I think it's mostly right and we have a group that needs some support.”Otherwise, the sections by council would be sold on the open market and then snapped up by someone who could then make a quick buck for doing nothing, he said.Mayor Tim agreed and said he’d been sitting around the council table for too long over the years, hearing so many excuses about what might go wrong.“We just want locals to have something to call home and treasure it. There is a lot of people who have a lot of homes that are making a lot of money . . . ”Council was also awaiting a response from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Affordable Housing Fund to support the development of affordable housing in the Gair Ave development. The subject of affordable housing rentals is also being considered by staff, and is subject to council direction, which may be included in the 2024-34 Long Term Plan. Moving forward, the Central Otago Housing Focus Group was looking for funding into a refreshed needs assessment for the district, which will collate data that council can use to show both the community and central Government that we have a real need here. 

Lake Dunstan looks set to have its own new man-made beachfront and boardwalk thanks to Contact Energy.Concept plans for the Lake Dunstan waterfront in Old Cromwell have been well received by the public, with workshops attracting 130 people last week.Contact Energy Community liaison Neil Gillespie said they received positive and helpful comments, which are now being considered by the architect for any revisions.The concept plans will now go on the website for further comments, followed by further engagement with Land Information New Zealand, Central Otago District Council, Old Cromwell and iwi.Neil said the cost to enhance the Old Cromwell area and improve biodiversity vegetation along the lake edge was not finalised because the engineering designs are still unknown.Once the plan is finalised, costed and consented, Contact Energy can make a start on the work.  Following that they will have a better idea of scope and timeline of the project. The Old Cromwell lakeside beautification project is an effort by Contact to collaborate with the community and co-design improvements to the Kawarau Arm.An artist's impression of what the area could eventually look like. IMAGE: SuppliedIt has been accepted the lake is returning to becoming a braided river — a known consequence of the construction of the Clyde Dam, which has caused sediment build-up and driftwood, affecting access to the boat ramps and jetties, along with weed and algae odour.Under its resource consent conditions, Contact must mitigate adverse effects caused by its generation activities on Lake Dunstan and the wider Clutha catchment.The landscape and visual amenity management plan (LVAMP) outlines how it will achieve this, as a requirement of its resource consent.The Otago Regional Council carried out a review of Contact Energy’s consents, the first one in 15 years.Concept plans for the area between Butcher Dr and the Junction Lookout have been produced by Arrowtown landscape architect Blakely Wallace.

Central Otago District Council (CODC) is ahead of the game, as the nation moves to standardise what materials go in kerbside bins. From today, territorial authorities will be required to standardise the system, ensuring the same rules apply throughout the country.Central Otago’s kerbside collection was altered in July, last year, with the introduction of the food scraps and greenwaste (organics) collection, which has given residents a chance to get used to the new system before it became mandatory.CODC infrastructure manager Quinton Penniall said while many Central residents were on board with the new system, a six-month report card would read: “Overall good effort, could do better”.“Generally, our team’s bin audits have shown a shift in people’s waste behaviour as they adapt to the new four-bin configuration. The community’s response to the green bin shows a commendable understanding of what should and shouldn’t go into the bin.”However, the same cannot be said for the yellow bins.“Our team and the truck drivers have noticed a genuine effort in recycling correctly, but many are still placing non-recyclable items in these bins. The most frequent non-recyclable item is soft plastic, found in 65 per cent of the audited bins containing incorrect items.”Soft plastic encompasses various “scrunchable” plastic packaging, ranging from chip packets and bread bags to dog food sacks and films on meat trays.The letter that residents receive if their yellow bin is contaminated. IMAGE: CODCThose items can only be recycled at Soft Plastic Recycling drop-off bins at New World, Countdown and The Warehouse in Alexandra.A CODC waste team spokesperson said some obvious signs truck drivers watch out for, which can suggest a yellow bin contains the wrong items, are overfilled bins, or bins with rubbish sacks spilling out the top.A variety of cameras in the trucks allow the drivers to see what is emptied into the hopper.A computer and GPS allows the drivers to tag a location where they spot the incorrect items in a bin. The property will be flagged the following week and the driver is prompted to check the bin before emptying it.If a driver finds a contaminated bin they leave a letter in the resident’s letterbox or under the handle of the bin explaining what has happened and why.The blue bin has also been problematic in recent times, with some people treating it like a “party bin”.“It is really great to see people trying to collect up all their glass bottles for recycling after a gathering, but the cardboard boxes and sleeves and aluminium cans need to go in the yellow bin. The lemon wedges need to go in the green bin and the chip packets in the red bin - or saved to take to a soft plastics recycling drop off point.”The Government’s new standards will not bring significant changes to the Central Otago kerbside service.The most noticeable change is that animal droppings, fur and hair will no longer be accepted in the green bin.Listen to The Outlet podcast where Lauren Hunter talks more about the standardised kerbside collection. Learn more by reading 'Your guide to Central Otago's new kerbside collection'.

“I don’t want to be dramatic, but we all know there are people out there living in tents, and year round.”That was the message Central Otago Housing Group chair Peter Griffen told the Central Otago District Council this week.Speaking in the public forum at the first Central Otago District council meeting of the year, Peter outlined the group’s plans on how it wanted to help address the ongoing accommodation problem.The group of six was currently putting together a map of Central Otago’s housing ecosystem, building on the existing work already done.“We’ve engaged with a number of public and social housing providers to explore opportunities in this district," he added.But, a proper needs assessment was necessary that would help with determining all of the issues faced by the district, in regard to housing.The group was asking council for both support in principle and financially, in helping them to apply for funding for this work - which was estimated at $150,000.“We are the enablers of partnerships and networking, and we see the benefit . . . we are not here to point the finger. We really want to get alongside and oil the machine,” he said.Preferring to use the wording ‘obtainable’ rather than affordable housing, Peter said this was to address the stigma attached for certain people.“Affordability will be a resource for the entire housing sector.”We will have more on the Central Otago Housing Group in our news tomorrow.

A simple question turned into widespread discussion when the Maniototo Community Board met last week.Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan asked board members if they thought a survey being compiled as part of the upcoming representation review should include a question around the spelling of Maniototo.The question, if included, would ask ‘should the spelling of Maniototo be changed to Māniatoto.“I just want to be really clear of the question that I’m asking here. The paper we’ve got coming up is whether the questions that we’re going to go out to the public with are the right questions,” he said.“So, I’m not wanting the answer to the question, but what I want from the board is to know whether the board thinks it’s appropriate that the question is in there, or not.”Mayor Tim said the spelling change, if it came into effect, would only be for council related representation.“So, we’re not talking about should we change the spelling of Maniototo full stop. It’s whether the Maniototo Community Board and Maniototo Ward’s name should be changed in the spelling.”Three board members, Rebecca McAuley, Robert Hazlett and Duncan Helm, supported the question being included in the survey.“There’s no harm in asking,” Duncan said.Stu Duncan thought the question should not be included.Mayor Tim said people who complete the survey would have to sign in so all responses could be tracked geographically.He also made it clear that if a change came into effect it would not be a widespread blanket change that would affect businesses and street names.The survey is put out to the community every six years and includes a range of questions around the number of elected members, ward boundaries and ward names.Further discussion about the survey will take place when the Central Otago District Council meets today.

Police from six Otago towns were called to Lawrence on Saturday night, after a brawl broke out at the town's local tavern following the town's rodeo event.Acting Sergeant Graham Perkins said while no arrests were made, it required police units from Balclutha, Milton, Tapanui, Roxburgh and Alexandra to shut down the Coach and Horses Inn.He said the brawl was between 30 to 40 locals and visiting rodeo enthusiasts, with Mosgiel police also on standby waiting to assist, when things got out of hand.Bar management and staff would be interviewed to establish the exact levels of intoxication, and security camera footage would confirm the offenders.“There was a lot of disorder,” he said.If the tavern was seen to be in breach of any of its liquor licensing requirements, it could be suspended.Meanwhile, the Queensberry man who prompted an AOS callout last weekend was currently on the run in Canterbury, after he breached his bail conditions and fled from police in Timaru, Acting Sgt Perkins said.Last Thursday a truck driver had to be extracted from his 12-tonne tip truck near Millers Flat when the tyre delaminated and caused him to crash into a cliff.Acting Sgt Perkins said the man was crushed in the cab and fire brigades from Millers Flat and Roxburgh were called to extract him - dismantling the top of the truck.

A convoy of 12 campervan drivers held up traffic in the Lindis Pass over the weekend, prompting police to educate them on appropriate highway etiquette.Acting Sergeant Graham Perkins said the public alerted police to the slow convoy, a group from overseas, who were travelling between 60km/hr and 90km/hr, unaware of the traffic banked up behind them.But, police could also hear the convoy on their channels as they were talking to each other on walkie-talkies while they drove - like a private tour group.“It took a fair bit of time to educate them on driving,” he said, with three police from Cromwell attending the callout near Northburn.On Sunday night police dealt with a family incident at Pinders Pond, where a family from Christchurch were camping.The man, who was taken into custody, is facing charges of possession of an offensive weapon, driving while disqualified and numerous drug charges.Pinders Pond recreational area has become popular with people using the freedom camping spot as temporary accommodation, and the Central Otago District Council was aware of this.In a report before Christmas, it said the situation was being closely monitored, along with other camp spots around the district such as near Cromwell - that were also being used as temporary accommodation.

A gold dredging operation proposed for the Clutha River near Luggate has been declined by three different councils involved in the hearing.A combined decision on Cold Gold Clutha Ltd was made by the Otago Regional Council, Queenstown Lakes District Council and Central Otago District Council in mid-January.The company has been gold dredging in the Beaumont area for several years, but when an application was made to move the operation north, it came up against many opposing submitters.Concerns were raised at the hearing in Cromwell before Christmas about environment impacts on the river, from both the exhaust emissions, the disposal of effluent onboard, as well as lack of cultural considerations.According to commissioners Rob van Voorthuysen, Craig Welsh, and Jane Sinclair, the potential adverse effects of the proposal were not outweighed by its positive effects.In their report they found the applicant had not studied the after effects of dredging on aquatic ecology in the river, and exact areas of the dredging operation were not specified.Kā Rūnaka sought that the applications be declined because they had not been provided with sufficient information to enable them to assess the effects of the proposal on Māori cultural values and interests.    The company already has consents to dredge further downstream near the Tuapeka Mouth, which were renewed last year and run through to 2035.

Maniototo Community Board members are supportive of a review that could propose changes to community board delegations, so long as they are still listened to.That was the general consensus provided at the group’s first meeting of the year on Thursday.Central Otago District Council chief executive Peter Kelly addressed the meeting remotely, asking members to consider the proposed changes to the board’s role in decision making.The same had been put to the Vincent and Cromwell community boards earlier last week.Vincent Community Board members agreed with the proposed amendments, while the Cromwell Community Board resolved to provide a submission on its view by the closing date of February 11 on the proposed changes. Proposed changes would include advocating and gaining feedback from a grassroots level within their wards in accordance with provisions in the Local Government Act 2002, and then be able to feed this back to council.Peter told the Maniototo Community Board the aim was to determine if the delegations, as they stand, were still fit-for-purpose and in alignment with legislative requirements.“This discussion and this paper is purely about the delegation to the community boards. It’s not about what subsequent decisions would be made,” he said.“The role of the community boards will not change, regardless of the decision that council makes. That role is enshrined in law and it is still part of the delegations right at the front end.”Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan said the delegations had not had a substantive review since the formation of the Central Otago District Council following amalgamation in 1989, that there had been significant change in the past 30 years, and there would continue to be change against a backdrop of predicted rising rates and debt.Maniototo Community Board member Cr Stu Duncan said the proposed amendments could work to the community’s advantage because the board could be asked for opinions on reports about district-wide matters as well as the grass roots matters affecting the Maniototo ward.The board moved to accept the proposed changes.The Teviot Valley Community Board will get a chance to discuss the proposal when it meets  on Thursday, February 8.

An investigation into why two widespread power outages recently occurred across parts of Central Otago, has found a “sequence of events” was the cause.Aurora Energy launched an investigation on Wednesday, following the district’s second power outage in just four days.The investigation team has confirmed a “specific sequence of events” resulted in the outage and mitigations have been put in place to “prevent a repeated event”.The latest power outage happened on Tuesday night, plunging almost 8000 customers into darkness.It affected residents in Alexandra, Clyde, the Teviot Valley, Chatto Creek, Omakau, the Ida Valley and Maniototo.Another widespread outage, just four days earlier, affected 1030 customers in Clyde and 6949 across the wider Alexandra area.Aurora Energy general manager operations and network performance Matt Settle said Wednesday’s outage occurred when both the main lines that feed the Central Otago network from the Clyde grid exit point tripped.“Our 24/7 fault crew patrolled the lines and no obvious fault was found, however our internal protection systems were activated and we are looking into why this occurred.”Part of the investigation is to request records from Transpower.A specialist team has been set up to undertake the systematic review of operational records and logs.

Conditions of the Manuherekia River under Alexandra’s Shaky Bridge continue to fluctuate with the latest reading showing slightly elevated levels of E. coli.LAWA carried out extra testing in mid-January twice a week, instead of the standard once a week testing, after a number of high readings and found the water conditions had settled on January 12.But, three days later on January 15 they had elevated again, and ‘caution’ was advised for swimmers.The Otago Regional Council also requested microbial source tracking analysis, which aims to identify specific sources of the E. coli in the sample; such as ruminant, human or avian.However, results of microbial source tracking analysis do take some time and were not available this week.Out of a total of 11 samples this summer, the water has been suitable for swimming just 45 per cent of time, with caution advised (slightly elevated E. coli levels) 36 per cent of the time and unsuitable 18 per cent.Other popular swimming sites, including Lake Dunstan at Alpha St in Cromwell, the Clyde Rowing Club, the Clutha River/Mata-Au at Dunorling St, Pinders Pond and the Taieri River at Waipiata have had no issues this summer.The testing continues until March 15.

Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan has distributed 100 leaflets and chalked many car tyres in his role of parking warden over the past few weeks.Speaking to his mayor’s report at the Vincent Community Board this week, Mayor Tim said he started back at work on January 3 and has made eight trips out on the streets, to see for himself the parking issues around Alexandra.Cromwell Community Board member Bob Scott has been doing the same thing in his town.As a parking warden ambassador, Tim joked that he’d been referred to by many other names as he did his rounds, noting vehicles that were parking all day outside businesses.Before the Central Otago District Council undertakes the expense, or brought in enforcement, staff needed to know the extent of the problem, which areas exactly were the worst and whether education was a better tool for dealing with it.Mayor Tim said it was disappointing to see The Warehouse carpark in lower Tarbert St was completely empty and the main street full of cars - some for hours on end.“So it really is the habits of people. And, whether the leaflets will change those habits, I don’t know,” he said.It was positive to note that business owners had started asking their staff to park elsewhere - one block further was not a big deal, he said.Mayor Tim will continue his campaign until the end of the month, and he said it was encouraging to receive feedback from some business owners, “that they think it is making a difference.”

Delegated authority given to community boards looks set to change for the first time in more than 20 years, under a local government review, so far with mixed reaction.New Central Otago District Council chief executive Peter Kelly presented both the Vincent and Cromwell Community Boards this week with a report for discussion, proposing a more district-wide view of critical decisions.Community boards would be tasked with advocating and gaining feedback from a grassroots level within their wards in accordance with provisions in the Local Government Act 2002, and then be able to feed this back to council.   “These changes acknowledge the ongoing importance of the community boards in being a strong voice for their community . . .,” his report stated.Examples such as the Long Term Plan would still need individual community board views, whilst decisions about Three Waters would obviously be made at a council level.Mayor Tim Cadogan added that reports from each ward would be presented in person (or by zoom) to the council each meeting, while deputy Mayor Neil Gillespie questioned whether that would make more work overall. However, given that there had not been a review since 2001, he said the timing was right.Neil said it was important that council was supportive of what community boards were trying to do.“Maybe too often throughout the process it’s been more of a ‘rubberstamp’ situation without too much understanding,” he said, referring to past issues.Regarding the Cromwell Hall, he said looking at the “eyewatering” numbers for the rebuild, it was appropriate that the council has a far closer look at what was going on.“But, please don’t take away from the community boards what they set out to do. They are the eyes and ears of the community," he said.Board chair Anna Harrison questioned whether the review would lead to a loss of local decision making, reminding the meeting about how vocal Cromwell members were regarding the way the council handled the hangars at the airport.Members will have the opportunity to discuss the proposed changes and make submissions by February 11.Submissions would be collated into a report that will be presented to council at its February 2024 meeting.  Mayor Cadogan concluded that information circulating in the community about boards losing their assets was incorrect, as the land in each ward was owned, and always would be, by council.

Central Otago Pistol Club is gearing up to host three of this year’s NZ Masters Games’ South Island events.The club will open its range at Galloway, near Alexandra, for cowboy action, black powder and speed steel challenge shooting events during the games from February 3 to 11. A spokesperson for the club said while Dunedin is the main host for other sports being played at the NZ Masters Games, the club saw an opportunity to add some extra elements to the event.“We managed to get [the organisers] to agree that we could host some Masters Games activities in Alexandra, mainly because no one else was going to be doing them in Dunedin.”  As a result, cowboy action, black powder and speed steel have been added to the line-up, events which the public was welcome to attend.Cowboy action is a type of multi-gun match utilising a combination of pistols, rifle and/or shotgun, in a variety of 18 “old west themed” courses of fire for time and accuracy.Firearms are generally replicas of those used pre 1899 and include lever and pump action rifles, single action revolvers and pump action and double barrel coach guns.Participants must dress in appropriate theme or era costume.Competitors in the cowboy action event will be dressed in costume for the occasion. PHOTO: SuppliedThe black powder target shooting competition will include antique and replica black powder, percussion, flintlock and matchlock muzzle loading rifles (and smoothbores), muzzle loading and cartridge hammer fired shotguns, percussion, flintlock and matchlock pistols, as well as slightly more modern cartridge revolvers and rifles - pre dating 1889.There will be a series of targets at distances from 15m to 50m, and shotgun clays.“Expect to see a lot of smoke and flame,” he said.“This will be loud so bring earmuffs and eye protection if possible.”Steel challenge is a speed shooting competition shot from a stationary position at five static steel plates per stage. Competitors shoot each of the eight stages five times and add their best four times to become their stage score.They are scored solely by the time it takes them to complete each stage and the match winner is the competitor with the lowest overall time.It can be shot with rimfire pistols and rifles, or centre fire handguns, including revolvers and pistol carbines, or lever action rifles.Most participants will compete with up to three firearms.“There are some seriously quick shooters participating in this, with some able to hit five targets in under three seconds.”All three events are international sporting competitions, with some variation to fit within NZ firearm laws.Overall, the events will bring about 75 people to the district to compete, an occasion about 100 people throughout Alexandra are helping organise.“It’s a good opportunity to host people around the country. We’ve got people coming from as far as Auckland.”Anyone wanting to spectate can attend the events at Central Otago Pistol Club, 63 Crawford Hills Rd, Alexandra, and must adhere to the rules.“Safety is our biggest focus, so any visitors and participants in sports are expected to follow instructions of range officials at all times.”EventsCowboy action: February 3-5, 9.30am to 3pmBlack powder: February 6-7, 9.30am to 3.30pmSpeed steel challenge: February 10-11, 9.30am to 4pm

An investigation is underway following two recent widespread power outages across parts of Central Otago. The latest unplanned power outage left a large area of Central Otago in the dark last night, affecting more than 7900 customers - the second widespread outage in four days.Last night’s outage affected residents in Alexandra, Clyde, the Teviot Valley, Chatto Creek, Omakau, the Ida Valley and Maniototo. The power cut happened about 11.45pm on Tuesday and was restored by about 6.30am today.Aurora Energy general manager operations and network performance Matt Settle said the outage occurred when both the main lines that feed the Central Otago network from the Clyde grid exit point, tripped.“Our 24/7 fault crew patrolled the lines and no obvious fault was found, however our internal protection systems were activated and we are looking into why this occurred.”He said as part of the investigation, there would also be a request of records from Transpower.A specialist team has been set up to undertake a systematic review of the operational records and logs.Aurora Energy hopes to have more information available later next week, which will be shared on its website, including whether there is any link to the unplanned outage last week that impacted the same area.“We thank our customers for their patience and reassure them we are looking into the reasons for the recent widespread outages.”Last week’s outage, which happened on Friday late morning, affected almost 8000 customers, which extended from Clyde to Ettrick and Lauder Flat.There are two main power lines that feed into those areas from the Clyde Grid Exit Point, where power is taken from the national grid.One of those was out of service for planned maintenance at the request of Transpower.However, the second line tripped, which caused Friday’s outage to the region.Keep up to date on power outages by clicking on The Central App’s power outages button.Read more: Power outage in parts of Central overnightRead more: Power outage widespread in Central

Another widespread power outage left a large area of Central Otago in the dark overnight.More than 7900 customers were affected by the power cut, which was the second widespread outage in four days.The latest outage affected residents in Alexandra, Clyde, the Teviot Valley, Chatto Creek, Omakau, the Ida Valley and Maniototo. The outage happened about 11.45pm on Tuesday and, according to the Aurora Energy website, it was restored by about 6.30am today.It is not yet known what caused the outage.Last week’s outage, which happened on Friday late morning, affected almost 8000 customers, which extended from Clyde to Ettrick and Lauder Flat.There are two main power lines that feed into those areas from the Clyde Grid Exit Point, where power is taken from the national grid.One of those was out of service for planned maintenance at the request of Transpower.However, the second line tripped, which caused last week’s unplanned outage to the region.Keep up to date on power outages by clicking on The Central App’s power outages button.Read more: Power outage widespread in CentralRead more: Power restored across Central

Central Otago Police attended several callouts for serious offending in the wider community in the past week, including an assault in Lowburn and an incident in Queensberry, which required the Armed Offenders Squad (AOS).Senior Constable Graham Perkins said officers arrived in Lowburn to find two women had been assaulted by a man who lived on the same property, and was recording them with his cellphone.“This matter had stemmed from a tenancy dispute and had developed into a neighbours at war situation.”The offender then tried to make his way into a house bus on the property from where he had previously been trespassed, to film one of the victims’ son.Cromwell staff arrived to support Alexandra police officers first on the scene, who had been at a crash in Bannockburn, and the offender was removed from the property and arrested.The man was charged with various forms of assault, trespass and while at the Cromwell Station also assaulted a police officer. The man was transported to Queenstown where he appeared the following day with very strict bail conditions regarding the property and victims.Snr Const Perkins said at the same time, Cromwell police were alerted to the Luggate/Queensbury area where a man, who was coming off meth, was intoxicated. There were concerns for his and other people’s safety. The Dunedin AOS were paged and they attended the address where a quantity of firearms, ammunition and firearm parts were located.The man was held in custody overnight in Queenstown and appeared in court on various firearm charges. All firearms were seized and the property was re-searched in the morning to ensure nothing was missed.Snr Const Perkins said Cromwell police completed a 16-hr shift due to the numerous incidents in one day, and backup was also provided by Wānaka for the assault.On the station front, Senior Sergeant Derek Ealson, who is the officer in charge of the Prevention Team in Alexandra, is heading to Bougainville in Papua New Guinea for 12 months as a policing advisor. He will be based in one of two bases NZ Police have set up in the region where his policing experience will be used to help local officers.

Alexandra’s proposed Riverside Park development has bumped up to an estimated $3.2 million, but stage one could be scheduled to start in December this year.The Vincent Community Board will consider a proposal by the Riverside Park Trust today, that has been working on rejuvenating lower Tarbert St and opening up access to the Manuherekia River, since 2017.A report to the board by Parks and Recreation Manager Gordon Bailey, said the trust sought to integrate the two rivers and adjacent riverside with the pedestrian heart of Alexandra. In 2019/20, the Central Otago District Council undertook an investigation into the land ownership of the site. The investigation highlighted that it was subject to several encumbrances and easements in favour of Contact Energy. These could potentially complicate any future developments on some of the land. Council obtained legal advice on the potential effect they could have on the project. The advice received resulted in the project being refined to only using the lower part of the proposed site. Therefore, the Miners Village concept was removed from the project and what remained was the development of a cycle hub and community events space with river views and access. Through the 2021-2031 long term plan, council consulted on options to fund the enhancement of lower Tarbert St and subsequently allocated $650,000 to plan and construct the project.In 2021, council and the trust signed a memorandum of understanding that detailed how both parties would work together on the project.A draft concept plan was developed for the site along with early engagement with Aukaha who have a significant cultural interest in this site, being the meeting point of both the Clutha/Mata-au and Manuherekia rivers. In December 2022, all necessary resource consents for the project were granted and the concept plan that was consulted on with the public in 2022 developed into a new design. The main feature of the plan is the walkway from a viewing platform at the end of Tarbert St to a wooden platform on the river that is within an area where native plants will replace the willow and poplar trees currently on the site.New cost revisionsStage 1: Plaza and river access cost estimate: $1,460,000.Completion: End Dec 2024.Key points of change from original developed design: Plaza area reduced in size.Stage 2: Ongoing enhancements cost estimate: $1,360,000.Completion: 2025 – 2028.Once the essential infrastructure proposed in stage 1 is completed it is envisaged ongoing enhancements in line with the original design will be made by the trust as funding allows.These will include: Increase in the plaza size, more plaza trees, bench seats, bike racks, and planting, bespoke balustrade, river track upgrade to perforated steel boardwalk with rest areas to be fully compliant and a pontoon. Stage 3: Play area cost estimate: $400,000.Completion: 2028 – 2029.It is proposed the play area will be the final stage and would be developed after the completion of council’s Play Strategy.At the time of writing, $200,000 towards a playground is included in year four of the draft long-term plan, along with ongoing operational costs of maintaining the plaza and river access grounds and public toilet. All external funders approached were in support of this staged model. The updated proposed funding of this project is as follows: Central Otago District Council $650,0000, funding approved via the long term plan 2021-31.Tourism Infrastructure Fund $325,000, council managed application. Funding approved.Central Lakes Trust $250,000, council managed application. Funding application to be made in Jan/Feb 2024.Lotteries – Otago/Southland Regional Community grant $50,000, trust managed application. Tagged to the Mana Whenua Art Installation. Application to be made early in 2024.Otago Community Trust $185,000, trust managed application. Funding application to be made in April 2024 for remaining funds.