Noisy Farrah's flatbread factory misses consent deadline to quieten machinery

Thursday, 14 April 2022

Food producer Farrah’s has missed a deadline to quieten machinery at its Upper Hutt Factory. Hundreds of complaints have been made over the last two years, with residents saying they can’t sleep through the noise.

A wall of blue shipping containers is the latest development in a two-year battle between a noisy flatbread factory and fed-up residents who say the drone of machinery is keeping them awake at all hours.

Farrah’s, the owner of the plant, was served an abatement notice by the Upper Hutt City Council last week after it missed a deadline to install noise mitigation measures at the factory.

Hundreds of noise complaints about the Silverstream plant date back to March 2020. Neighbours say a low hum interrupts their sleep, which has reportedly resulted in some selling up.

An evaluation commissioned by the council in March found noise levels to be “strongly audible between 11pm and 3am”. Given until Thursday to comply, the company on Wednesday stacked three shipping containers in front of plant in an apparent attempt to dampen the sound.

Silverstream resident Helen Chapman moved into her dream home only to discover the 24/7 noise from the neighbouring Farrah's factory. (First published March 16, 2019)

* Flatbread factory continues to keep neighbours awake despite months of complaints

Farrah’s was granted resource consent for temporary noise non-compliance in December last year, but the consent was subject to several conditions.

* Noisy flatbread factory keeps neighbours up at night, with some packing up and leaving

Resident Logan McLean said Farrah’s effort to address the situation over the past two years had been minimal, and the blue wall was another shallow solution.

“They have tried these containers in the past and have achieved little effect,” he said.

Farrah’s was granted resource consent for temporary noise non-compliance in December after repeated testing found noise emanating from the factory to be breaching the Resource Management Act and District Plan. Conditions stipulated a permanent solution needed to be found to quieten a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit by January 31 this year, and that all remaining noise emissions comply with the District Plan by April 1.

Farrah’s managing director Jovan Čanak said the latest test results were from a “new noise”. However, the council’s abatement notice referred specifically to the HVAC identified in the conditions.

“As soon as we were notified, we have worked quickly to address it. We now have a temporary fix in place, we are waiting on independent testing to confirm this has resolved this particular noise, and then we will move to implementing a permanent fix.”

He was confident the mitigation would be addressed by the deadline.

McLean said the company had shown little regard for the community, which had needlessly been dragged through a two-year bureaucratic slog. A simpler solution would have been for Farrah’s to acknowledge its neighbours and work on a resolution together.

“I just hope we can sleep in our own homes, and be able to get on with our lives,” he said.