Hutt City mayor calling for Government assistance amid growing number of slips

Monday, 22 August 2022

The Western Hills in Lower Hutt are littered with small slips like this one on London✓ Road, Kokoroko. Mayor Campbell Barry said contractors are struggling to deal with the number of slips that occurred over the weekend.

Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry is calling on the Government to step in to relieve pressure on the small number of contractors grappling to deal with an increasing number of slips in the area.

After a weekend of torrential rain, the Western Hills is covered in small slips and there have been significant slips in Stokes Valley, the Wainuiomata hill road and in the Eastern Bays.

The council is uncertain exactly how many slips there are, but contractors – including technical assessors – are under pressure, with many diverted to deal with the impacts of Nelson’s extreme weather event.

The Stokes Valley and Wainuiomata slips have re-ignited the debate over access to the two biggest suburbs in the city. In the short- to medium-term, the emphasis has to be on the clean-up but Barry said the issue of a second access to both suburbs will have to be revisited.

Harbour View Rd in Lower Hutt was blocked by a slip on Saturday.

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A landslide covered a Tesla in Eastbourne.

Barry will be speaking to Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty on Monday to outline the situation in Lower Hutt and to see what outside assistance is available.

“The workers on the ground are doing an outstanding job but there are clearly capacity issues given the scale of what has occurred across the region.”

Barry is reminding residents that they may have to be patient, as Nelson has to be the number-one priority.

Getting slips assessed for safety is a priority but there are only a limited number of people with the necessary expertise.

Barry said it was the wettest winter he can recall but the sheer number of slips had raised issues around resilience and long-term planning.

The unprecedented level of slips across the region mean that roading projects would have to be reassessed. And with climate change becoming an increasing issue, resilience has to be a higher priority.

Recent weather events had highlighted how vulnerable Lowry Bay is, and Barry said the design of the planned shared cycle/walkway may need to be re-assessed to make sure it can cope with rising sea levels and increasingly severe storms.

Stokes Valley residents have expressed concern over the vulnerability of their one access road after recent slips. The slips moved again during the weekend and Barry said the issue of a second road would be re-explored.

It is the same with Wainuiomata, where a large slip had reduced the capacity of the hill road.

In the past, the council had looked at a tunnel or a road to Naenae, so residents had a second way out of the city if the hill road was blocked.

Barry said Stokes Valley and Wainuiomata residents had to understand that any solution would be expensive and require funding from central government. However, all options, including a tunnel to Wainuiomata, should be considered.