A group of Holloway Road residents have voiced their opposition to a month of overnight water works.
Residents in one of Wellington's oldest streets are furious at Wellington Water's plans to replace a wastewater pipe over nearly a month of overnight works.
A group of Holloway Rd residents met council and Wellington Water representatives on the small, dead end street on Friday to express their vocal opposition to the work scheduled to begin on June 15.
In a letter to residents, the water supplier said due to the very narrow width of the road contractors needed to fully close the road while work took place.
"There will be noise and vibration created by these works, including vehicles, generators and heavy equipment. To minimise the disturbance to residents, higher-noise activities such as concrete cutting will stop at 11pm each night.
"The project will be broken into several segments, with our contractors moving along the road in stages. However, it is likely you will experience a fairly consistent level of noise for the duration of the project," the letter said.
The initial letter said the works would be taking place for two months between June and August, but Wellington Water told RNZ on Sunday, residents were updated on June 10, the work would only take place between June 15 and July 15, for 22 nights in total.
Derek Thunders' home is within the stretch of the road where work was proposed to take place.
"My bedroom wall is literally on the foot path and that's the case with a lot of people. The majority of residents are bang on the road side.
"It's in the bottom of a gully. There's hills either side. It's one way in, one way out. It's like a little amphitheatre as well so any sound in any part of the valley just ricochets down. You hear everything," Thunders said.
The work is scheduled to begin on 15 June.
Thunders said the explanation provided by Wellington Water at Friday's meeting was the night was the most budget friendly time of the day to conduct the work with less health and safety concerns about people who may come close to the work site.
"In a way I get it but - opposed to the impact on everyone that lives in that street - that's pretty miniscule. It's not like a busy street in the heart of the day anyway," Thunders said.
Fellow resident Malcom Frazer said the flyer to notify people of the work was delivered less than two weeks ahead of the scheduled start date.
"This was a complete ambush from Wellington Water. It's going to keep me up all night and essentially cause fatigue in my day job," Frazer said.
Frazer said he couldn't understand why it wasn't possible to do the work during the day time.
"We've made a number of suggestions, none of which have really been taken on board, and I think they're overstating the time restrictions that traffic management will take during the day. I cannot see why it can't happen. They close roads in Wellington all the time. It's entirely possible, it's more conveniant for them to do it at night and that's the crux of the situation," Frazer said.
Frazer said he'd endured previous works in nearby Raroa Road and had appealed successfully to the contracting firm to be provided with alternative accommodation.
"From a personal level - if they have to do it at night - I need to be able to sleep and they should be providing me with a situation where I can sleep i.e. somewhere to go and stay while the work's happening.
"The squeaky wheel gets the oil because a lot of people aren't going to have the confidence to squeak and yet they're still going to have major effects," Frazer said.
Holloway Road resident Malcolm Frazer.
Frazer said he was prepared to interrupt workers if disruptions were intolerable and believed the community would stand behind him.
"I have a number of ideas and I believe there'll be a lot of support out in the community and beyond the Holloway Road community, particularily as this is going to impact other roads in the future. We need to stand together and actually stand up for our rights really," Frazer said.
In a statement, Wellington Water said it acknowledged residents' concerns and apologised for the inconvenience caused.
"While we have worked to minimise impacts, it is not possible to complete this work without some disruption.
"Our approach balances reducing impacts, ensuring safety, and delivering value for ratepayers. Traffic management and noise control plans have been reviewed and approved by Wellington City Council, and we will continue to engage constructively with residents throughout the project."
It said it understood concerns about night works.
"Daytime work would be preferable, but site-specific factors require work to be completed at night. Holloway Road carries high levels of pedestrian, cycle, and vehicle traffic during the day. The works take place around manholes in the centre of the road, making it difficult to maintain a safe lane width.
"To let people and traffic through, all work will need to be pau…
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