Bread factory must shush
An Upper Hutt food factory that has been breaking the law with noisy bread-making keeping neighbours awake at night, has been told it has two months to fix the problem.
Residents who have been in an almost two-year battle to get Farrah’s flatbread factory in Silverstream to stop breaching the district plan and Resource Management Act say the decision is a relief for their sanity, but fear the fight could be far from over.
‘‘At every stage of this process Farrah’s have caused delays or been granted extensions. Meanwhile, every additional day without mitigation is another day that residents have to suffer,’’ resident Logan McLean said.
In a decision released by independent commissioner Robert Schofield yesterday, Farrah’s was told it could have resource consent, but must bring down the silo-filling noise by 10 decibels within the next fortnight, and have permanent fixes in place by mid-February 2022.
Any other factory noise must comply with district plan limits by April 1, 2022.
At a resource consent hearing in November, Schofield heard from 20 affected residents, including McLean, who outlined significant health impacts from the noise. Many had been deprived of sleep due to a low hum coming from the factory’s ceiling fans and HVAC units.
Others said they had to quit their jobs or move away because they were driven to distraction.
Repeated tests by noise consultants found the ‘‘incessant droning’’, buzzing or humming and silo-filling sounds breached both the Upper Hutt City Council’s district plan and the Resource Management Act.
There have been 302 complaints to the council about the noise from the factory. In his decision, Schofield said there was no reason why Farrah’s could not comply with the noise standards. ‘‘The sources and nature of the noise emissions are such that they can be remedied, and, based on the expert evidence provided, there are feasible solutions that can be implemented within a short time frame.’’
Schofield granted the consent, provided Farrah’s stuck to its plan to install quieter ceiling fans by the end of January, did not run silos on public holidays or weekends, planted trees to mitigate the visual impact of silos, and used containers as temporary screens to reduce noise until the February deadline.
Farrah’s was also given approval to build a second flour silo, but only after the company implemented a tree-planting plan.
Farrah’s owner Jovan Cˇ anak said the company remained ‘‘relentlessly committed to addressing the noise issues’’.
‘‘The noise from the flour silo filling has been temporarily mitigated further and has already achieved more than the required reduction.’’
All other issues raised in the consent were well on track to be resolved ahead of the commissioner’s deadlines, he said.
But McLean was doubtful this was the end of the residents’ battle.
He had no confidence the council would act on any future consent breaches.
‘‘At every stage of this process Farrah’s have caused delays or been granted extensions . . .’’ Logan McLean