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The formal feedback on the issue had come mostly from Airbnb owners – 49 of the 56 submitters were owners of short-term visitor accommodation. The small number of others who provided feedback were all worried about Airbnbs taking residential dwellings out of the owner-occupier and longer-term rental market. Since October 2020 the number of Airbnbs on the West Coast has dropped by 30 per cent (240 properties) and current occupancy rates were less than 50 per cent, the planners reported. “Whether these 240 properties have returned to other housing markets, or just been withdrawn from Airbnb listings is not known but is likely related to the decline in tourism in parts of the West Coast,” they said.
Council has confirmed the preferred option is to invest $39.4 million of a $52.5m total budget – including $12.9m of third party funding - for the museum between 2021–2026. Its preferred location remains Queens Park at this stage and the plan is that the redeveloped museum will be opened no later than 2026-27. The purpose of the governance group is to create “a unique and compelling vision for the museum that will define the nature of the service for the community of Invercargill and solidify its role in the Southland region”. Council leisure and recreation group manager Steve Gibling said Williams had the ideal business and public sector acumen, and museum sector knowledge, to chair the governance group.
The committee voted to reject a report on the issue at its meeting on Tuesday. Grey mayor Tania Gibson said the report included a map of proposed SNAs, which covered the vast majority of the private land in the region. Only scattered pockets in each district were deemed to have no SNA present, she said. She wrote a letter to all rural and provincial mayors asking for their support in the battle against SNAs, which she said was “theft by regulation”.
ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff
Associate Environment minister James Shaw says the policy will allow some existing and new use on significant natural areas.
Alex Higgins celebrates winning the World Championship in 1982 with wife Lynn and daughter Lauren Billy Foley
Billy Foley
It s one of the most iconic television moments in sport.
Alex Higgins in the centre of the Crucible Theatre. The man child clutching his baby daughter in one arm and the world championship trophy in the other, crying.
Just moments before, Higgins had pleaded with his wife in the crowd, with tears in his eyes. “Give me my baby … give me my baby.”
Sport stars celebrating with their children has become de rigueur, but in 1982 this was exceptional.
Higgins, the hard nut from Belfast who spent more time drunk than sober, desperate to kiss and hug his infant daughter.