Council told to apologise for handling of Farrah’s factory noise complaints

An independent review has identified failings in how Upper Hutt City Council handled a “serious health risk”, by allowing a flatbread factory to consistently breach noise limits.

Neighbours of the Silverstream Farrah’s wrap plant made hundreds of complaints to the council over more than a year about a low hum coming from a fan unit and noise from the filling of an over height silo on the site. They said the noise kept them awake at all hours and led to some locals quitting their jobs and selling up.

Drawn out investigations by both the company owners and the council eventually found the noise from the machinery was louder than allowed in the district plan.

In December 2021, nearly two years after the first complaint was lodged, the factory was given two months to fix the problem by independent commissioner Robert Schofield who oversaw a resource consent hearing into the matter.

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Farrah’s missed that deadline and the council issued the company with an abatement notice in April 2022. Since then, the factory has made changes to ensure it meets noise standards.

However, an independent review released on Tuesday into how Upper Hutt City Council handled the problem found the council was too slow in taking action.

The report’s author, top public law and disputes resolution partner Linda Clark​ of Dentons Kensington Swan, also concluded that the council spent too much money – $250,000 – on testing the noise levels and was too soft in its dealings with Farrah’s.

“Council’s decision to work closely with Farrah’s to identify the causes of the noise and try to mitigate them left staff open to criticism that they favoured the company owners’ interests over any concerns raised by residents,” the review said.

The review recommended the council formally apologise to complainants “for the time taken to resolve the matter, and for the way in which it communicated with them”.

Logan McLean​, a member of the Farrah’s Noise Community Group who has been at the forefront of the push to try to get Farrah’s to comply with noise limits and get the council to address the breaches, said the review “didn’t seem to pull any punches”.

As well as welcoming an apology, McLean hoped the council would fund treatment for residents who continued to suffer the effects of the noise and compounding sleep deprivation.

“Ultimately residents just want to get on with it and put it all behind us. We want a very strong message from the council that they have heard this report, that they are going to change.”

Former Upper Hutt City councillor Angela McLeod​ requested the review. She said she believed it was thorough.

“I’m pleased that there are now some solid learnings that the council could incorporate.”

In a statement, Upper Hutt City Council chief executive Peter Kelly​ said the council acknowledged that dealing with the ongoing noise had been a “trying time” that impacted residents’ quality of life and mental health.

The council welcomed the findings and recommendations, which it would discuss at a meeting next Wednesday, Kelly said.

The statement did not directly address questions from Stuff about whether the council planned to apologise to affected parties.

Farrah’s director Jovan Čanak said while the independent review focused on the council’s management processes, there were some lessons for the company.

He said that as noted in the report, Farrah’s operations were now fully compliant with District Plan and resource consent requirements, following work to mitigate effects on neighbours.

However, the company acknowledged and apologised for the time it took to address the issues.