Stage Two of the land development adjacent to the stream has begun.

This involves raising the land up to circa 3m within the bund (embankment) currently being built back to the Stage One land that has already been raised.

Presently, an existing sewer line is being upgraded prior to the infill commencing.

The rest of the paddock between the bund and the river trail will be excavated to an average depth of 1.5m and used as fill for the land being raised. The topsoil will be set aside and spread/grassed, re-creating the flood plain area capacity.

The power and gas lines that run across the paddocks will not be disturbed.

The stream track on the side adjacent to this work will be closed off for safety reasons and will be re-opened once the adjacent work is no longer a safety risk.

Once the fill from this paddock area has been removed, the excavation works will move to the other side of the stream, removing an average 1.5m from the paddocks up as far as the formed pathway from Heretaunga Park to the river trail. There will be no encroachment on the planting alongside the stream. Once this work starts, there will be a lot of truck movement.

In early 2026, a temporary bridge will be installed across the ford to avoid damage to the stream. The trucks are not permitted to enter the stream at all.

At this point, there will be no access from one side of the ford to the other. Your path walking will need to be in and back the same way you came.

If all goes well and the weather behaves itself, the developers are hopeful of completing this work by mid to late 2026.

Off-limit areas will change as the work progresses.

The haymaker will be doing one more run of grass collection prior to the paddocks being dug up. Just awaiting a run of fine weather!

Working bees to maintain the lower reaches of the stream and prevent it closing up with weed will generally be held on Sundays when the developers are not working.

We are currently looking at putting down base course gravel which will considerably improve the paths in winter weather. This is not a cheap exercise and grant applications are underway to raise the estimated $20,000 for the complete job. At the earliest, nothing will be happening until the grounds harden up, but we have met with the developers who will enable us to get the materials in as we can afford it.

We are in touch with the project team and will keep you informed as new information comes to light.

Cheers
Stream volunteers

A “thank you” to Kevin Braddock for sending this article to The Upper Hutt Connection.

22/10/25