Upper Hutt City Council apologises ‘unreservedly’ for two years of noise from bread factory

Farrah's bread factory in Silverstream. Photo / Google.

Upper Hutt City Council has apologised “unreservedly” for its handling of complaints about a bread-making factory in Silverstream which kept residents awake for years.

Council chief executive Peter Kelly said it was never the intention of the council to allow the disruption from Farrah’s bread factory to continue for two years.

“That it did is not good enough and we must learn from this and do better in the future. For that failure I am accountable and accept full responsibility.”

His apology comes after an independent review was released last week which found the noise issue was apparent as early as March 2020.

“It took some months to identify the exact source of the noise which residents described as a constant thrum, particularly audible at night and in warmer weather,” the review reads.

By April 2020 it became clear the noise was causing significant disruption to the sleep of residents and by May the review found it clear to be a breach of noise requirements for the area.

Residents described losing hours of sleep every night and constant noise during a time in lockdown when they legally could not leave their homes.

“More than one resident spoke about the impact of the lack of sleep on their employment; one felt that it contributed to their redundancy and another that it led them to resign from a demanding job because they didn’t feel safe driving the commute, speaking of falling asleep at the wheel. Those who worked from home reported a real impact on their ability to concentrate at home and earn a living,” the review read.

It took until August 17, 2022 for effective mitigation measures to be finalised by which time the number of complaints had increased significantly.

By early 2021 the number of complaints had grown from three or four a month to more than 60 a month, the review found.

The council says it worked with Farrah’s to alleviate the issue whilst acknowledging a fix was complex as identifying how to stop the noise took time and initially, Covid-19 restrictions made work challenging.

It also says Farrah’s needed time to apply for resource consents but that ultimately, residents’ concerns were taken seriously, and mitigation measures were put into effect.

However, residents said that the council failed to ensure Farah’s was compliant with the district plan and consent rules and gave the factory too much leeway by allowing them to continue operating the business in breach of height and noise restrictions.

They say the council minimised the effect the noise from the factory was having on residents’ wellbeing, with senior council staff in particular prioritising the interests of the company owners over residents.

Farrah’s said it took all necessary steps to fix the issues alongside council, but that locating and mitigating the exact source of the noise was hard and locating relevant parts, in Covid conditions, took time.

It says it also became the target of abuse from residents which affected how it responded to the community.

The review found senior council staff had failed to keep themselves adequately briefed as to the full impact of the breaches on residents, and lacked a proper system and process for documenting the enforcement decisions.

“Council failed to develop a plan for effective communication with residents. This was in part due to a lack of resources, but principally because council failed to recognise the key role communication could play in maintaining confidence in council processes. Council failed to take active steps to ensure all affected residents were equally and fully informed.”

Kelly said he supported all the recommendations in the review, which included further training for council staff in handling complaints, and planned to work “expeditiously” to implement them.

“I again apologise unreservedly to those members of our community for the hurt caused impacting both their physical and mental wellbeing.”