Taipā residents and visitors are being advised not to swim or collect shellfish from the bay due to the community’s wastewater treatment plant being overwhelmed by days of heavy rain.

A new cemetery reservation process introduced in December is streamlining the way plots are booked and is helping to better manage cemeteries across the district.

The council applied unconventional warning signs to Kawakawa’s famous and equally unconventional Hundertwasser toilets this month to protect both the building and its many visitors.