‘We just want fairness’: Upper Selwyn Huts residents face $4000 annual water costs

Monday, 30 March 2026

Selwyn Huts Owners’ Association spokesperson Kirrily Fea outside her home. The association is asking for residents to be included in district rates for water and wastewater.

Residents of a small Selwyn community say they are facing nearly $4000 a year in water costs, despite years of lobbying to be treated like the rest of the district.

The small riverside community of Upper Selwyn Huts is classified as a local purpose reserve for hut settlement. While residents own their houses, the land is owned by the Crown and administered by the Selwyn District Council. There are 95 houses there.

The dispute follows a separate win for residents in 2025, when they secured 30-year licence-to-occupy agreements after years of advocacy. Residents say they believed this would lead to more equitable treatment, including how essential services were funded.

Aerial view of Upper Selwyn Huts community which has 95 homes.

Selwyn Huts Owners’ Association spokesperson Kirrily Fea said unlike other communities with shared sewer and water systems, theirs was the only one in the region not included in district-wide rates for these services.

“We’re not asking for anything extra, we just want to be treated like everyone else.”

District-wide rates were introduced in 2015 to spread infrastructure costs evenly and keep services affordable, particularly for smaller communities. Upper Selwyn Huts has always been excluded though, with residents saying they have never received a clear explanation why.

Selwyn Huts Owners’ Association spokesperson Kirrily Fea says currently residents were paying for all capital and operating costs for the water and waste water system, which is unaffordable for small communities like theirs.

Residents do pay district-wide rates for services including libraries, swimming pools, land drainage and recreation reserves, but water and wastewater charges are added to their licence-to-occupy fees - costs Fea said are becoming increasingly unaffordable.

The issue has intensified following a $4 million upgrade to the local sewer system. While the council agreed to fund 70% of the project, the remaining 30% is expected to be paid by residents. Locals say they’ve already effectively paid for sewer infrastructure twice, for systems dating back to the 1920s and 1980s.

“They did tell us last year that if we're not on the district-wide rates, we’d be paying $2500 for the running costs, but we'd also have to pay at least $1345 for the recent upgrade we had. And this amount would be for 15 years,” Fea said.

“So in total, the sewer and water was going to cost us $3917 [yearly] per household. That’s a lot.”

Upper Selwyn Huts resident Graeme Young says they’ve been asking to be part of the wider district’s rates for a decade.

Fea said legal advice obtained by the residents’ association backs their case, with a specialist barrister saying the costs should be shared across the district to ensure fairness and follow council policy.

The local sewer and water systems service public facilities, including toilets on a nearby recreation reserve and a neighbouring farmhouse, which residents say strengthens the case for costs to be shared across the wider district.

The situation has become more complex with the transition to Selwyn Water Limited, a new council-controlled entity set to take over responsibility for water infrastructure.

Resident Leigh Rossiter says they want just to be treated like the rest of Selwyn.

Resident Graeme Young said neither agency seemed to be taking responsibility.

“Council has told us that they’ve already handed it over to Selwyn Water and they said ‘Well we’re just going on with the council's previous decision…

“We’ve been fighting this for over 10 years. Now it feels like it’s just been passed on, like it doesn’t matter.”

With further consultation due as part of the Selwyn council’s next annual plan, residents remain hopeful a resolution can be reached.

Resident Leigh Rossiter said the community “just want fairness”.

A new council was elected last year, and resident “have hope in them”, she said.

A council spokesperson declined to comment, saying the matter was currently under consultation and no decisions have been made.

A Selwyn Water Limited spokesperson said they could not comment on the council’s past decisions but acknowledged the residents’ concerns.

The agency would engage directly with residents about their situation and what water charges would look like when they come in on July 1.

“Our priority is to ensure a fair distribution of costs and to continue working closely with both council and the community as these changes are developed.”