HUTT CITY COUNCIL NEWS RELEASE

2 DECEMBER 2016

Central Lower Hutt open and accessible

Central Lower Hutt is still open, accessible and a great place to shop this Christmas. There’s parking available and free shuttle buses to keep the city humming, with more activities andinitiatives to come over the festive season.

Businesses, Hutt City Council and the Greater Wellington Regional Council have been collaborating to work around any closures and keep the city vibrant for the Christmas Season. Council’s working with owners to make vacant commercial space in the CBD available for pop-up shops for affected businesses, if required, and over 80 shops in the Queensgate Shopping Centre are now open.

Councils’ CBD Development Manager Cyndi Christensen says, “Our usual activity like the popular Saturday Riverbank Market continues, we’ve got some fun things planned for the Festive Season such as a Christmas themed Kai on High food truck event on High Street, About Space’s ReTree Christmas Tree exhibition and Christmas in Dowse Square, and we’re putting in an extra effort to make the central city really vibrant and welcoming.”

The Greater Wellington Regional Council is also coming to the party, providing a free shuttle service to run every fifteen minutes, 9am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday between the bus stop at Waterloo Station (Stop C) and a bus layby outside the courthouse on Knight’s Road. The shuttle service will begin this weekend and run until Christmas Eve, if there’s demand. Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace says, “A big thanks to the regional council. It’s all about working together.”

While there’s been a reduction in the number of public car parks in central Lower Hutt, because of damage to two of the city’s car park buildings, there are still nearby car parks available and plenty of other options for those visiting or working in the CBD.

People working or visiting the central city are advised they may need to be prepared to park further out of the central city than usual, and consider options such as public transport, car-pooling or walking or cycling to the city centre.

Council’s Recovery Manager, Kim Kelly, says there are still spaces available in the riverbank car park, which is a short walk to the CBD. Council has also relocated Council vehicles from the Fountain Car Park on Laings Road to a temporary space, to free up additional car parks for public use.

There have been some requests for Council to make car parking free and remove time restrictions across the CBD until the car park numbers are restored, however Kim Kelly explains that that would likely exacerbate any shortage, saying “Paid parking helps to keep a turnover of car parks, which is really important in an area like the central business district with retail and hospitality that needs those customers to have access.”

Read more about where you can park in Lower Hutt’s CBD on our website

Read more about the city’s recovery on our website

ENDS

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