Naenae – The changing face of a working-class paradise – Stuff.co.nz

Fast-food joints, bargain stores and empty shops greet visitors to Naenae's hub and main shopping area, Hillary Court.

Behind wire fencing across the road is the closed Naenae Olympic swimming pool - once a vote of confidence for a thriving suburb, it has become a symbol of its decline.

The working-class stronghold at the north-eastern end of Lower Hutt was designed around community - a post-war suburban paradise for families to enjoy a hard-won peace.

READ MORE:* No timetable but mayor wants new Naenae Pool as soon as possible* Lower Hutt's new mayor has an Olympic sized problem to deal with* Hutt council faces dilemma with huge bill to fix Naenae Pool

MONIQUE FORD / STUFF

Naenae's Olympic pool was closed earlier this year because it was earthquake prone. The facility was responsible for bringing foot traffic into the area and nearby businesses have reported an downturn in trading as a result of its closure.

The rows of concrete tile-topped state houses are still there but the suburb has ground to a halt.

The decades-long decline of Naenae has continued to the backdrop of a regionwide housing boom. As new people and new money scamble for a slice of the previously unfancied area, the old residents and economy are still being left behind.

Over time Naenae has lost many of the amenities that made it a functioning community. Banks, post offices supermarkets and the community hall have all disappeared and, more recently, the earthquake-prone pool which was closed in April this year.

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Like the pool, Naenae's community hall was shut becuase it was earthquake prone.

The pool was responsible for bringing thousands of people into the area and within weeks of its closure nearby shops reported a downturn in trade leading to closures. Some shops claimed pool users had accounted for up to 80 per cent of their business.

Despite the downwards spiral of Naenae's shopping area the housing market has gone through the roof.

Professionals Real Estate principal John Ross says interest in the suburb is unprecedented.

When he started selling houses 39 years ago a former state house in Naenae would sell for as little as $25,000. Three-bedroom homes were now going for between $500,000 and $600,000.

The property market was so competitive houses were being sold within 48 hours with as many as 15 offers on the table, he said.

Ross said about 25 per cent of houses he sold in Lower Hutt were to buyers from outside the city and the large, sunny sections in Naenae offered better value for money than houses of equivalent prices elsewhere.

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A nearly empty Hillary Court on a sunny afternoon.

Jessie Algar is a masters student in environmental studies who grew up in Naenae. She said the housing boom was attracting a larger proportion of middle-class buyers to Naenae. This element often worked and socialised outside of the suburb which risked becoming a dormitory.

With about 47 per cent of the suburb's houses in the state housing network and recent changes to the district plan encouraging higher-density housing, she said Naenae ran little risk of becoming fully gentrified, however it was possible the new wave of private home owners could disproportionately influence revitalisation decisions in the suburb.

MONIQUE FORD / STUFF

Tony White has worked at Naenae Mowers for 30 years. He says the job losses following the economic reforms in the 1980s resulted in people starting to move away and the closure of many local shops.

Tony White has worked in the local lawn mower repair shop for 30 years and said the people brought to Naenae by the housing boom had made little impact on the local economy.

"Sadly they don't really shop in the Naenae shopping area. They shop in Lower Hutt [and] Petone."

The continued closure of amenities and shops meant locals hadn't come to Hillary Court for their daily shopping for years. It was hard to know what could be done to reverse the trend, he said.

Eddie Forster, a teacher at Rata Street School and Naenae resident of 24 years said many of the newcomers were not sending their kids to local schools either.

Naenae's population was more than 50 per cent European, however Rata Street's roll was about 50 per cent Mori and 20 per cent Polynesian.

"I think they can afford to buy here but have decided, for whatever reason, to send their kids elsewhere for their schooling."

MONIQUE FORD / STUFF

Teacher Eddie Forster says the role at the local school doesn't reflect the local community. He says many of the people now buying their houses in Naenae are choosing not to send their kids to the local schools.

Algar said the council needed to ensure it consulted with all stakeholders - including disempowered groups - to ensure revitalisation efforts served all the community.

She believed projects around the pool, community hall and Hillary Court meant Naenae "was on the up". As long as all parties were included there was no reason why the suburb could not become a prosperous mixed-income suburb.

With discussions around what to do with the pool ongoing, Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry said the feedback he had received from the community was they felt they had been failed by previous councils over a number of years to stimulate activity in Naenae.

The Hutt City Council was working towards bringing back the swimming facility as quickly as possible while engaging in a robust conversation with the community about its needs, he said.

TE ARA

The large former state house sections, once used to grow vegetables, have become sought-after real estate as buyers from outside the Lower Hutt get priced out of other regions.

White grew up in Naenae in the 1950s and 1960s and has the same rose-tinted recollections as many New Zealanders from that era - kids making their own fun on the streets and in the eastern hills, cart building, bike races, and community gatherings.

"Everybody new each other and we all just got on," he said.

Horses, sheep, chooks and vege gardens were kept in many of the generous state housing sections, and a "humming" Hillary Court boasted banks, a post office, jewellery shops, grocers and a picture theatre.

A proudly working-class area, he said families did not have a lot of money but employment from nearby industry brought stability.

He said things changed for Naenae in the 1980s following the economic reforms of the fourth Labour government.

As the major employers closed one by one people began to move away and the shops that once supported the community began to close.

Cameron Burnell/FAIRFAX NZ

Urban historian Ben Schrader says Naenae was built around community engagement and remains a prime example of New Zealand's 20th century urban design.

Urban historian Ben Schrader said the neo-liberal policies of the 1980s impacted Naenae in the same way it affected other New Zealand working-class communities.

The removal of tariffs on imported goods and subsidies for local manufacturers meant many large employers that supported areas like Naenae were forced to downsize or close.

"That's when you started to see higher rates of unemployment and the social problems that come with it."

Looking around Hillary court now, White says while the buildings are the same the shops and the vibe are completely different.

"It's all just food shops and ... that's it really. People aren't smiling, they look downcast."

MONIQUE FORD / STUFF

Some businesses have been hit hard by a dearth of foot traffic that was generated by the pool.

Naenae holds a special place in New Zealand's urban history.

In the early 20th century the standard of housing was poor. Indoor plumbing and electricity were not yet the norm and, fearing the development of urban slums, the first Labour government launched an extensive state housing programme to house the country's working people in the 1930s.

Naenae was identified as the spot for one of New Zealand's first fully planned suburbs. Planning began in the 1930s and early 1940s and building took off after World War II.

Schrader says from the outset Naenae was designed to be different. The grid-like layout of traditional suburbs was rejected in favour of curving streets that encouraged walking and engagement with the surroundings and other people. Twenty-five per cent of the area was set aside for reserves and recreational areas.

MONIQUE FORD / STUFF

Schrader says the modernist architect Ernst Plischke based Naenae's Hillary Court, which includes the clocktower and former post office (pictured), on Venice's San Marco Square.

Ernst Plischke, a modernist architect who had fled Nazi occupied Austria, designed Hillary Court to be the hub of the community.

"Hillary Court, believe it or not, was based on San Marco Square in Venice."

The area was also purposefully placed close to major employers in the Hutt - many residents worked at the Ford, General Motors, Todd Motors and Phillips factories.

The railway line was even shifted from the western side of the valley to the east to service places like Naenae, Taita and Epuni.

"They had this progressive idea to develop a sense of community - a place where people could work, live and socialise," Schrader said.

Naenae was the county's best example of a the "garden city" concept and had enormous historical value.

"It's an important area in terms of New Zealand's 20th century urban design [and for] its history as a state housing suburb. "

The country's firstmodern suburb had a huge influence on the suburban developments that came after it .

"They all looked to Naenae."

Schrader said with the government again involving itself in house building - modern urban planners would do well to take some cues from Naenae.

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