Whakatāne’s annual Young Achiever Awards have seen 144 members of the community recognised for national or international excellence in academic, cultural and sporting fields.

Organised jointly by the Whakatāne District Council and Whakatāne West Rotary Club, the Awards were held on 31 October 2013 at the Whakatāne Liberty Centre and were open to any young person up to and including secondary school level. More than 250 people attended the ceremony, and Master of Ceremonies Ian Finch noted that this reflected the high degree of support the community has for the event.

The Whakatāne District Council has awarded a three-year routine road maintenance contract to Tauranga-based Transfield Services NZ Limited.

The $4.39 million contract covers all routine pavement, drainage and environmental maintenance work on the 903 km of sealed and unsealed local roads in the Whakatāne District until October 2016. Council Infrastructure General Manager Tomasz Krawczyk says the tendering process attracted six bids, including three from local contractors. Tenders were assessed by an evaluation team which included a highly-experienced, independent convener.

Master Painters, Bay of Plenty Councils, Tauranga Environment Centre and Dulux, Wattyl and Resene are together conducting the Paint Waste Reduction Campaign across the Bay of Plenty to raise awareness of environmental issues resulting from painting and paint waste disposal.

The paint companies involved all run paint waste disposal programmes to allow painters to return unused paint and old paint buckets.

The following is a media release from the Bay of Plenty District Health Board.

High levels of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) toxin have been found in shellfish during routine marine biotoxin monitoring in the Bay of Plenty.

A road resurfacing procurement partnership between the NZ Transport Agency and the Whakatāne District Council is helping each organisation to achieve more efficient and economical local and highway maintenance outcomes. 

The partnership involves the two organisations contracting out similar work programmes under one contract, as opposed to operating separate contracts.

The Whakatāne District Council is reminding the community that the 2013/14 restricted fire season has now started. The season began on 1 October and will run through to 30 April 2014.

Principal Rural Fire Officer Neal Yeates says a permit will be required for any fire in the open air during that period. “Fire Permits help us to know where and when fires are lit during the drier months so that we can provide a measure of protection for our community, as well as our forests, coastal and grassland areas.”

Young women across the Eastern Bay of Plenty will have the opportunity to get involved in sports leadership roles thanks to the new Take the Lead initiative which launches this week.

The Take the Lead programme has been developed to provide opportunities for leadership development for young women (aged from 13 to 20) in sport and recreation over a three-year period. The project is jointly supported by Sport New Zealand, Sport Bay of Plenty, and the Whakatāne, Kawerau and Ōpōtiki District Councils. 

Eastern Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management is investigating the cause of a false alarm which triggered the region’s continuous rise tsunami siren just before 8 am this morning (1 October 2013).

The siren system, which is linked through existing New Zealand Fire Service sirens, along with additional sirens which were recently installed at Coastlands, Waiōtahe and Ōhiwa, was accidentally activated this morning, with the cause still unknown.