Stories by Chloe Ranford

Rent caps should be used to curb Marlborough's "unaffordable" senior housing prices, housing experts say.

A permit that allows people to freedom camp at a popular whitebaiting spot in Marlborough for four months could be closed.

Councils are scrambling to deal with holes in their roading budgets, which they fear could lead to deteriorating roads, particularly in rural areas.

Blenheim's high-profile museum lets in ants, reaches "very hot" temperatures, and could be a "death trap" in a quake.

Picton's new multi-million dollar ferry terminal build could mean a squeeze on accommodation, and one hostel owner is willing to sell up to help get the job done.

Te Hoiere/Pelorus Sound resident Pete Wilkinson says the plastic is a threat to birds and aquatic life which could mistake the "white balls" for food.

Marlborough pensioner Jenni Schreuder is not able to ask for help paying her rent because she has more than $10,000 in her bank account. But that money is for her funeral.

Top of the south iwi are demanding new aquaculture rules in Marlborough be withdrawn, with one claiming the consultation process came up so short it had "the scent of a Treaty breach".

What's next for councils? That's the question driving the biggest shake-up of local government in a generation. Marlborough's answer: be more like us.

Blenheim could reclaim its title as a one-bus town with a service that attracts just one passenger a day facing the final red light.

Large trucks are parking in the streets of a portside town and not in the stop built for them, and authorities want to know why.

Freedom camping rules in two popular tourist regions are being challenged in the High Court by a national caravan group for being too restrictive.

A new group will be formed to screen road names in Marlborough after councillors criticised developers twice last year for choosing names that were too English.

Hundreds of tourists are still stopping at closed freedom campsites in Marlborough, with some so crowded that campers are parking in people's driveways.

Retiree and fisherman Alex Kole thought his second cast on the morning of 12 February had become tangled in the Wairau River, north of Renwick, when "zing, across the river it went".

One in three rivers in Marlborough are polluted with faecal matter, according to new tests that have disappointed iwi.

New Zealand's largest salmon farmer has pulled its request to extend a farm into colder waters, saying it wants to "do right" by Marlborough.

A new system to map bad smells in Marlborough has picked up two smells so pungent people were unable to use their house.

Houses could be built in Blenheim's quake-prone east with innovative engineering, says a councillor concerned that its subdivision potential is not being catered for.

A Māori ward is back on the cards in Marlborough after the government announced sweeping changes to a "racist" law.

If State Highway 1's dangerous Weld Pass isn't addressed soon it will be like 'stepping back into the Dark Ages', a transport committee chairperson says.

There's more empty parks than cars in front of the Atlantis backpacker hostel by Picton's foreshore, but visitors complain they are being rubbed the wrong way by 'overzealous' parking wardens.

A couple from the United Kingdom has "lost everything" after the vehicle they were living in caught fire at a Marlborough camping site.

A footbridge over a Blenheim river popular with walkers and cyclists needs "significant engineering work", but will remain open to the public while a replacement is built.

A rope bridge and "woodland walk" could be key attractions at a new reserve in Blenheim's Rose Manor estate, bought by the council for just over $1 million.