April Update 2025

It has been so soul destroying and depressing that I have not felt like updating the nightmare that has risen less than 1 metre from our fence. Look at the photos. We are not alone in this nightmare either it is happening all over New Zealand thanks to Government interference.. 

In February 2022 I wrote with my privacy concerns but the Council appeared to ignore this and has put in sets at floor to ceiling windows in the back of each property that look into the garden in Glen Road. Without the trees Urban Plus has (thankfully) left in place, we would have at least 12 windows looking down into our property.

One window is 'meant' to be frosted as it is the bathroom but, so far, it has crystal clear windows. This, Hutt Council thinks is acceptable.  It is not. All of the houses along that row have a clear bathroom window.

Note the floor to ceiling windows that the so-called architect put in without checking to see if there were any privacy objections - on the right of this photograph.

August 2024 to Date

The noise, announced in February 2022, and finally begun in July 2024 is still continuing in April 2025. 

From enervating vibrating machinery, diggers and concrete mixers, we now have sanders, hammering and power saws all day. We can at least thank the Site Supervisor for (mostly) keeping the noise from radios under control.

We have gone from this:

To this: 

Without the trees already in place and the trees we have planted, this would be a shit place to live.

This window is so close I can reach over and push it shut without much effort. We were told we could visit and assess the view from  the other side which would have been a help but so far, we wait patiently.  

Compared to the plans I have, which show a modest amount of greenery and a tree, the excuses I have been given don't hold up about how close the building is. 

It's Not Just Us

All over the Hutt Valley local residents are being treated like dirt. Builders noise, loud radios, illegal parking by building contractors and barely one day respite on Sundays. If you are lucky.

Upper Hutt - the Comedy

Finally.

Upper Hutt seems to want to show off the huge number of 'new builds' it has, as if it was some kind of we can build more and faster contest. None of the houses have gardens. Most are lucky I think to have a single parking space.  If you wanted a patch of grass they would laugh at you. 

No-one mentioned that there is over $1,000,000 outstanding in unpaid rates from people already living within the Council area. I suggest this should tell the Council something. Or, maybe they only want rich people in Upper Hutt and everyone else can struggle? 

Research shows you that the average price of an Upper Hutt property is $744.204 (February 2025 - Core Logic). That is almost three quarters of a million dollars. Upper Hutt evidently doesn't think affordable housing matters - bus drivers, nurses, retails staff can go down for the third time with no chance of their own home. They are at the mercy of property developers who own most of the new builds and charge huge amounts in rent. 

Not brilliant Hutt Valley.