A new lower speed precinct comes into effect on 1 March. The initiative rides on the back of the successful launch in February last year of the 40km/h variable speed zones around 18 Hamilton primary and intermediate schools. The city’s first 40km/h speed precinct is in the area around the hospital and Hamilton West Primary School (Hammond Street, Horne Street, Park Terrace, Valley Terrace, Tidd S... more...

Hamilton City Council has accepted a recommendation from the Remuneration Authority for an increase in its remuneration pool for elected members. The recommendation to increase the pool from $965,972 to $1,014,770 for 2009/2010 was discussed at a Council meeting last night. The indicative remuneration pool was calculated by the Remuneration Authority and incorporates a three per cent increase in... more...

Council last night asked its chief executive to continue to gather information on what it might cost ratepayers to keep the Waipa Delta operating on the Waikato River in Hamilton. The request for financial information came after CEO Michael Redman tabled updated information at last night's Council meeting after discussions with Waipa Delta owner Mark Goudie. Mr Redman said Mr Goudie had given so... more...

A decrease in the amount of water being consumed in Hamilton and wet weather forecasted for the coming week has seen the city's water alert level drop back to 'alert level one'. Hamilton City Council Treatment Plants Manager Tim Harty said while the city's water consumption was peaking at over 75 million litres during the first week of February, a recent decrease has seen daily consumption sit un... more...

Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock says the city's ability to secure the David Tua versus Shane Cameron boxing contest cements Hamilton's reputation as an events destination. "We are delighted to have reached terms with the promoters. We believe our sponsorship arrangement is prudent while offering significant promotional and economic benefits for the city," says Mayor Simcock. The event will be held at... more...

Hamilton City Council has been successfully granted a landmark consent which will renew the city's water take for the next 35 years. The consent, which allows Council to draw 146 million litres of water a day from the Waikato River for municipal water supply, is the first consent to be processed under Environment Waikato's new water allocation guidelines (Regional Policy Variation 6). Hamilton C... more...

Work for setting in place foundations on Commerce Street, and across the road in the Forlongs Car Park entrance, for the new High Street pedestrian overbridge begins today.   The contractor, Spartan Engineering, expects to start marking up and initial road cutting around 3pm today (Thursday), and is expected to take approximately two hours. This initial work is starting early to avoid the f... more...

Restoration work begins this week on the historic land wars vessel which brought the first colonial settlers to Kirikiriroa – the future site of Hamilton – on 24 August 1864. The PS Rangiriri was commissioned by the New Zealand colonial government in 1864 for use on the Waikato River during the New Zealand Land Wars. Named after one of the most historic battles, the iron-hulled vessel arrived too... more...

Hamilton Zoo is experiencing its very own 'baby boom' with the births of three capuchin monkeys in the past three weeks, and two more due to be born shortly. Five-year-old capuchin Jessie was the first to give birth on 22 January, followed by 14-year-old Clarissa on 9 February and 18-year-old Drucilla on 10 February. Fifteen-year-old Eva and six-year-old Diva are both expected to give birth in th... more...

Hamilton City Council will be coordinating a city collection for the victims of the Victorian Bushfire disaster at tomorrow night’s pre-season NRL game between the Vodafone Warriors and Melbourne Storm at Waikato Stadium. All proceeds will go to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal. The fires witnessed in Victoria this week are still raging and represent Australia’s greatest natural... more...

Dust off your bike and head into Civic Plaza or the university for a free breakfast on Wednesday 18 February. To finish the day cyclists can participate in the new en masse Pitstop in the Park event. Steve Taylor, Hamilton’s coordinator of the New Zealand wide Bikewise month says all cyclists are welcome at the Go By Bike Day particularly those who don’t usually cycle. “This year’s event we have... more...

The partnership between Hamilton, the Porter family and the Hamilton 400 organisers will continue this year with a repeat of last year's Mark Porter Memorial Dinner. The charity dinner will be held on Thursday, 16 April. The organising committee has announced that CPS, an organisation dedicated to preventing harm to children, will this year be the benefitting charity. CPS is a national organisa... more...

Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock will bestow an Honorary Citizenship upon the Mayor of Ieper next Monday [9 February] in recognition for the Belgium city's ongoing generosity in caring for and remembering the large number of New Zealanders who fell in the battles around Ieper in World War One. Current Mayor of Ieper (pronounced ee-per), Luc Dehaene, will accept the certificate on behalf of his city dur... more...

A total ban on domestic sprinklers could in place in Hamilton by the weekend if residents don't take immediate steps to reduce water consumption. Hamilton reached alert level 2 last Thursday [29 January] after the city consumed over 65 million litres of water per day for the past week. This increased alert level brought with it new restrictions permitting residents to use sprinkler systems betwee... more...

The newly refurbished Claudelands Grandstand will be officially opened this Wednesday [4 February] – marking the next chapter in the rich history of this historic building. The landmark grandstand, which was registered Category II by the Historic Places Trust, was shifted 500m across the Claudelands site last April and has since undergone extensive restoration work. Its $1.5 million restoration s... more...