Lower Hutt

Lower Hutt is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.
It is New Zealand's sixth most populous city, with a population of. The total area administered by the council is around the lower half of the Hutt Valley and along the eastern shores of Wellington Harbour, of which is urban. It is separated from the city of Wellington by the harbour, and from Upper Hutt by the Taita Gorge.
Lower Hutt is unique among New Zealand cities, as the name of the council does not match the name of the city it governs. Special legislation has since 1991 given the council the name "Hutt City Council", while the name of the place itself remains "Lower Hutt City". This name has led to confusion, as Upper Hutt is administered by a separate city council, the Upper Hutt City Council. The entire Hutt Valley includes both Lower and Upper Hutt cities. Lower Hutt is also often simply called "the Hutt".

History

Before European settlement, thick forest covered most of the Hutt Valley, with areas of marshland close to the river's mouth. Māori inhabited the shoreline, with a pā at each end of Petone beach.
Māori welcomed the arrival of the New Zealand Company ship Tory in 1839, and William Wakefield negotiated with some local chiefs to allow settlement. The first immigrant ship, the Aurora, arrived on 22 January 1840, an event still commemorated every year on the Monday closest as Wellington's Anniversary Day. A settlement, Britannia, grew up close to the mouth of the Hutt River, and settlers set up New Zealand's first newspaper and bank.
The city takes its name from the English name given to the river, named after one of the founding members, director and chairman of the New Zealand Company, Sir William Hutt. The dual name of Hutt River Te Awa Kairangi has been used since 2010.
Within weeks of settlement the Hutt River flooded, and in March 1840 the majority of Britannia settlers decided to move to Thorndon,, though some settlers remained at the north end of the harbour. In the 1840s an area on the west bank of the Hutt River, in what is now Alicetown, formed the village then known as Aglionby.
In 1846 conflict arose between European settlers and Māori, which led to armed conflict in the Hutt Valley Campaign.
The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake raised part of the lower valley, allowing reclamation of land from swamp. The fault escarpment from the earthquake is still visible, notably at Hutt Central School.
On New Year's Day 1859 the first permanent lighthouse to be built in New Zealand was lit at Pencarrow Head. New Zealand's only female lighthouse keeper, Mary Jane Bennett, became the inaugural operator of the lighthouse.
The railway line from central Wellington reached Lower Hutt station in April 1874, with the line running north up the west side of the Hutt River to Silverstream opening two years later.
Before the Second World War of 1939–1945, urban settlement in the lower Hutt Valley concentrated mainly on Petone, central Lower Hutt and Eastbourne, with a total population of 30,000. In 1927 the Public Works Department completed the construction of a branch railway line to Waterloo on the east side of the river; the route diverging from the main line between Lower Hutt and Petone. Two years later the railway workshops moved from Petone to a new larger site off the new branch at Woburn.
In the late 1940s new suburbs of state housing developed along the eastern side of the Hutt Valley, from Waiwhetū to Taitā, to alleviate nationwide housing shortages and to cater for the booming population. Between 1946 and 1954 the railway line from Waterloo extended through these new suburbs to Haywards, becoming the main line in 1954 when the existing main line between Haywards and Melling closed. By the end of the 1950s, Lower Hutt had a population of 80,000.

Government

Local

The Hutt City Council comprises a mayor and 12 councillors. The current mayor is Campbell Barry, who was first elected in 2019 succeeding Ray Wallace. At the time of his election, Barry was New Zealand's youngest ever mayor. The city's six electoral wards each elect one councillor, with the remaining six councillors elected at-large.
Mayor and councillors elected in the 2022 local-body elections:

Name	Affiliation	Notes
Campbell Barry	Labour	Mayor of Lower Hutt
Tui Lewis	Independent	Deputy Mayor, Ward: Harbour
Glenda Barratt	Independent United Hutt	Ward: Central
Chris Parkin	Independent	Ward: Western
Naomi Shaw	Independent	Ward: Northern
Andy Mitchell	Independent	Ward: Eastern
Keri Brown	Labour	Ward: Wainuiomata
Tony Stallinger	Independent United Hutt	Ward: At-large
Josh Briggs	Independent	Ward: At-large
Brady Dyer	Independent	Ward: At-large
Karen Morgan	Independent	Ward: At-large
Gabriel Tupou	Independent	Ward: At-large
Simon Edwards	Independent	Ward: At-large

Neighbouring councils are Wellington City Council, Porirua City Council to the north, Upper Hutt City Council to the north-east and South Wairarapa District Council to the east. The boundaries of the Lower Hutt city local body have evolved from a series of amalgamations and boundary changes over the years.
The Hutt County Council, established in 1877, covered the region from Wellington's south coast up to Waikanae, excluding the Wellington City Council area. As the region grew, urban parts of the Hutt County became autonomous boroughs: Petone in 1888, Lower Hutt in 1891, Eastbourne in 1906, Johnsonville in 1908, Upper Hutt in 1908, Porirua in 1962 and Kapiti in 1974. In 1941 Lower Hutt became a city. It incorporated Normandale in 1957.
In 1987–1989 the New Zealand Government forced local authorities to consolidate, which led to Lower Hutt amalgamating with the adjacent Boroughs of Petone and Eastbourne and with the Wainuiomata District, and to the abolition of the Hutt County Council.

National

The area of Lower Hutt is covered by two general electorates and by two Māori electorates.

Geography

The city centres on the lower southern valley of the Hutt River, to the northeast of the city of Wellington. The valley widens into a delta as the river nears its mouth, so the central urban area of the city forms a triangle with its longest side along the shoreline. In the upper reaches of the city the Western and Eastern Hutt Hills become closer, culminating in the Taitā Gorge at the northern end of Lower Hutt, separating the city from neighbouring Upper Hutt.
Lower Hutt includes the cluster of small settlements that extend down the eastern coast of Wellington Harbour. These include the two large townships of Wainuiomata and Eastbourne. The city also includes a large area of sparsely populated land to the east of the harbour, extending to Pencarrow Head and into the Remutaka Range. Lower Hutt's boundaries also include the islands in Wellington Harbour, the largest of which is Matiu / Somes Island.

Climate

Lower Hutt has a wet oceanic climate, which is similar to nearby Wellington, with relatively warm summers and mild winters with the occasional storm.

Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River

A single major aquifer dominates the lower Hutt Valley: the river, originally named Heretaunga, and since 2010 known as "Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River". Awakairangi in the Māori language means "river of food from the sky".
Lower Hutt occupies the lower regions of the flood plain of the river, one of the most significant features of the city. In the 20th century the Hutt River Board built stopbanks to contain the river, but the threat of flooding from heavy rainfall persists. In 1985 the river burst its banks, and since then floods have been on a smaller scale. Smaller streams and storm-water drains have also caused occasional problems when rainfall exceeds average levels.
Much of the land adjacent to the river is protected as reserve by the City Council and managed by the Greater Wellington Regional Council to provide popular recreational areas. From the river mouth, walking and cycling trails and grassed areas occur at various points along both sides of the river up the Hutt Valley to Te Mārua, 28 km further north in Upper Hutt.
With lower river-levels in mid-summer, algal blooms have contributed to making slow-flowing areas anoxic. The Regional Council has cited the algal blooms as the cause of death of a small number of dogs swimming in the river, as well as of skin reactions in the case of swimmers.
Seven bridges cross the Hutt River within the city of Lower Hutt, with several other bridges built and replaced from the 1850s onwards.
Tributaries of the Hutt River within Lower Hutt include:

Te Mome Stream
Opahu Stream
Suburbs

Here are listed the following suburbs of Lower Hutt City.
;Northern Ward
;Western Ward
;Central Ward
;Eastern Ward
;Harbour Ward – Petone Community Board
;Harbour Ward – Eastbourne Community Board
;Wainuiomata Ward
'''Notes:'''

Demographics

Lower Hutt City covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km².
The city's population has remained stable from the 1990s to the 2013 census. In the five years between the 2013 and 2018 censuses, the population grew steadily across the city with an increasing amount of homes being purchased and the area seen as more affordable comparable to the rest of the region.
Lower Hutt City had a population of 107,562 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 3,030 people since the 2018 census, and an increase of 9,324 people since the 2013 census. There were 53,082 males, 54,009 females and 468 people of other genders in 39,279 dwellings. 3.8% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 37.5 years. There were 20,595 people aged under 15 years, 19,896 aged 15 to 29, 51,261 aged 30 to 64, and 15,807 aged 65 or older.

Nationality	Population
England	4,083
India	3,183
China	2,310
Samoa	2,310
Philippines	1,488
Australia	1,404
Fiji	1,260
South Africa	1,131
Scotland	669
United States	543

People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 64.3% European ; 19.6% Māori; 12.2% Pasifika; 18.6% Asian; 2.1% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders ; and 2.1% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 95.1%, Māori language by 5.1%, Samoan by 4.2% and other languages by 17.8%. No language could be spoken by 2.3%. New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.6%. The percentage of people born overseas was 27.6, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 33.9% Christian, 4.5% Hindu, 1.4% Islam, 1.1% Māori religious beliefs, 1.3% Buddhist, 0.4% New Age, 0.1% Jewish, and 1.8% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 49.6%, and 6.1% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 19,188 people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 42,231 had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 20,148 people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $47,800, compared with $41,500 nationally. 13,125 people earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 48,201 people were employed full-time, 10,395 were part-time, and 2,694 were unemployed.

Name	Area	Population	Density	Dwellings	Median age	Median income
Western Ward	44.49	16,491	371	5,892	38.7 years	$58,400
Harbour Ward	25.55	19,158	750	7,794	41.0 years	$51,400
Northern Ward	18.30	16,584	906	5,736	34.6 years	$43,300
Central Ward	7.72	17,643	2,285	6,753	41.4 years	$46,000
Eastern Ward	14.43	18,087	1,253	6,471	35.8 years	$42,100
Wainuiomata Ward	265.91	19,599	74	6,636	34.6 years	$47,200
New Zealand					38.1 years	$41,500