A final meal of fish and chips on the floor marked the end of nearly four decades in a Tirau Rd home for Serena and Geoff Fletcher.
By Jordan Smith of Local Democracy Reporting
The property, opposite the Karāpiro Cafe, had been in Geoff Fletcher’s family since 1920 but is set to be demolished to make way for the Waikato Expressway extension.
Lengthening the expressway to include the Cambridge to Piarere section has long been advocated for by local leaders and the AA, and aims to improve a section with a history of crashes. The project was signed off in late 2025.
But the change is painful for the Fletchers, whose home is in its path. They signed a full sale agreement on Waitangi Day, giving them 10 days to move out.
"To be honest, you've got no choice and you haven't got a lot of power because they're literally the government," Serena Fletcher said.
"It was so hard... you've got to have fish and chips on the ground because you had to be out so quickly," she said through tears.
NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) said the Fletchers’ case was "commercial in-confidence" so the agency couldn’t comment. However, it is negotiating with 47 landowners and has been "working pro-actively with property owners along the SH1 Cambridge to Piarere expressway designation since August 2024".
The Fletchers originally signed for a partial sale in December last year but later changed to a full sale, signed on Waitangi Day, Serena said.
They had 10 days to move, and are now living in a rental.
They're moving away from their son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren, who will continue to live in a separate house on the back of the property, outside the road expansion zone.
The buyout process with NZTA has amplified the stress, Fletcher said. "Everything they've said they were going to do, they haven't done".
“They said they’d help us find land, which of course they didn’t... we're now living in town in a rental house,” she said.
Additionally, the agreement was signed with no valuation on the home as NZTA could not find a like-for-like property to value against, according to Fletcher.
Negotiations are ongoing to settle on a dollar figure.
"They said they'd get it [the valuation] back to us the week after."
And bulldozers showed up to cut down trees days before when she’d been told it would happen.
"You do feel like you're being forced out, whether you actually are or not. And yes they do buy it but you still feel like you haven't got a choice."
The project was at the property acquisition and detailed design stage, with construction expected to start late 2026/early 2027, subject to construction funding availability.
Construction would take about five to six years, the spokesperson said.
They added the expressway will provide a "more resilient roading network for this critical corridor", pointing to how it will reduce congestion, improve safety and boost the region’s economic growth.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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