Draft Annual Plan submissions cover a range of topics

Recycling, tertiary scholarships and stormwater storage are among the potpourri of topics covered in submissions to the Gore District Council's draft Annual Plan.

The Council has received 28 submissions to the 2013/14 draft plan, which is slightly up on previous years. Of that 11 people will present their submissions to councillors at a hearing next Friday (24 May).

Chief executive Stephen Parry said there did not appear to any singular, stand-out issue among the submissions.

Record entries for Young Ambassador

Gore Gold Guitar Young Ambassador Awards convenor Tracey Millan is confident this year's event will be outstanding with a record nine entries.

The revised format and increased cash prize have attracted a high calibre line up of young people, including St Peters' teacher Aidan Forbes, the husband of reigning young ambassador Shanna Forbes.

Forbes won't be the lone male, as has been the case in previous years, with Hokonui Radio announcer Luke Howden also throwing his hat into the ring.

Direct Debit Payment For Rates

The Gore District Council is pleased to announce we can now offer you the opportunity to pay your rates by direct debit at more frequent intervals.

We appreciate it can be a challenge for some people to pay their rates instalments every three months or busy lifestyles sometimes mean those quarterly payments are overlooked.

So we asked ourselves "what can we do to make paying rates easier and safer?"

Dump your TV for free at the Gore transfer station

The Gore District Council, in conjunction with WasteNet, is collecting old televisions for free at the Gore transfer station, in preparation for the South Island going digital.

The service is part of the TV TakeBack initiative that involves the Government partnering with local authorities, a range of recyclers, retailers and producers to divert televisions from landfill.

The Government is subsidising TV recycling so the cost to the public in most of the South Island will be no more than $5.

Alcohol law changes will affect Special Licences

Local authorities are going to need longer to process Special Licence applications under alcohol law changes that come into effect next month.

The Gore District Council's Licensing Inspector Frances Shepherd said changes to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 mean that from 18 June all applications for a Special Licence must be lodged at least 20 working days before the event.