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Bin Enquiry FormHistoric heritage refers to the places, buildings and structures that people value for their historical, physical, and cultural significance.
The Resource Management Act (RMA) defines historic heritage as:
Therefore, heritage places can be many kinds of buildings, public and private, commercial, industrial, or residential, or even places where no physical structures may be visible.
Heritage places are associated with Lower Hutt’s history and are places that provide a connection, understanding or appreciation of the history and culture in Lower Hutt.
As part of the public consultation and review of the district plan, it may be decided demolition of heritage is restricted and that consent should be sought for certain activities that result in major changes to a property identified as having historic heritage. This could mean you may require consent to undertake activities like external modifications, additions, alterations, and relocation.
However, it’s likely that you won’t need resource consent to carry out all the usual repairs and maintenance that you would on any other property, such as repairs using the same materials, general maintenance, painting your house and interior modifications or alterations.
No final decisions on these measures are to be made until the District Plan is finalised in mid-2022. A Draft District Plan will be released for public comment early next year. We encourage you to get involved to let us know how we should protect heritage in Lower Hutt.
Unless your property is already listed in the current District Plan, there are no immediate changes to your property. We will discuss with property owners and wider community about how we protect heritage before the listings and provisions are finalised in the new District Plan and we encourage you to be part of this.
As our city grows and changes, taking steps to protect heritage places and buildings is part of a national requirement for all councils. Historical heritage is a key contributor to our city’s vibrancy and sense of place, particularly when it is retained, celebrated and maintained.
Protecting historic heritage from inappropriate subdivision, use and development is a matter of national importance.
We have set aside a $1.5 million fund to support owners of heritage sites and buildings to maintain these treasures over the next ten years.
The fund can be used for:
More information about the Built Heritage Incentive Fund can be found on our website or contact us further information at heritage.fund@huttcity.govt.nz
All councils are required by the Resource Management Act to review the contents of their District Plan at least every 10 years. In undertaking this review, we are required by the Resource Management Act (RMA) and Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) policies to identify and protect historic heritage.
The RMA lists “the protection of historic heritage from inappropriate subdivision, use and development” as a matter of national importance.
The GWRC Policy Statement requires us to identify places, sites and areas with significant historic heritage values and to protect these from inappropriate subdivision, use, and development.
There are indications that there are a number of sites and buildings in Lower Hutt with notable historic heritage values that have not been listed in the District Plan. This limited listing of historic heritage may have resulted in the loss of buildings perceived by some people to be historic heritage, such as the Oddfellows Hall in Petone.
At the same time, increasing development pressure and government requirements to enable more intensive housing create the risk of losing more historic heritage if it is not protected.
GWRC’s Regional Policy Statement (RPS) for Wellington sets out criteria for identifying historic heritage. According to Policy 21 of the RPS, district plans must identify places, sites, and areas with significant historic heritage values under one or more of the following criteria:
A team of heritage specialists from WSP New Zealand was commissioned to carry out an assessment to identify historic heritage values in Lower Hutt, based on the criteria set out in Policy 21 of the RPS, as set out above. These specialists have undertaken initial research for this assessment and the initial research has now been verified through fieldwork and site visits.
Tangata whenua values (those relating to the active protection of resources of importance to Maori) are an important component of the historic heritage of Lower Hutt. The initial research carried out by WSP New Zealand has not included a full assessment of these values because of a lack of the specific expertise required for this. A separate assessment of these will be carried out by mana whenua (those Māori with ancestral rights and responsibilities to protect their taonga) in the near future.
An individual listing refers to a single building or item that may hold significant historic heritage values. A historic heritage area is a group of buildings or items that collectively, or when considered together, may hold significant historic heritage values.
In some cases, a property may be included in a historic heritage area and also be identified as having significant heritage values on its own. While some properties may be located in an area but have no significance as an individual building or item.
Both heritage areas and individual buildings or items are assessed using the Regional Policy Statement Policy 21 criteria referred to above.
We cannot comment on what effects a heritage listing on property values might be. Values are affected by a variety of factors.
We encourage you to contact us with any questions, and to discuss the potential historic heritage values identified on your property. We are particularly interested in whether there is missing information in the evaluation sheets or if there is additional information that might be valuable to complete the draft assessment.
We are eager to receive your feedback on the draft evaluation for your property as soon as possible. This will then be reviewed by our heritage specialists before any draft evaluations are finalised.
In the first quarter of 2022 we will also be releasing a new draft District Plan. This is the blueprint for making sure our city functions well and adequately protects the things that make it special. We will be engaging with communities, seeking feedback on whether the draft is appropriate, or where it could be improved.
Measures to protect areas and buildings of historic heritage will be part of that, just as they are in the current District Plan. We will be consulting with the public on what those measures should be, and we encourage you to have your say in this process.
We are aiming to notify a proposed District Plan, including the reviewed approach to historic heritage, in mid-2022. At this point, everyone living in Lower Hutt will have the opportunity to submit on the proposed plan and to be formally involved in a public hearing process.
Property owners and residents can contact the district plan team at: heritagereview@huttcity.govt.nz