Will the Golden Mile ever Happen? Maybe.

The first action of Mayor Andrew Little was to put a pause on the Golden Mile, given the project’s $80 million cost blowout. Six months on, whether the progressive policy will ever materialize is anyone’s guess. 

The Golden Mile is a proposed refurbishment of the corridor connecting Courtney Place and Lambton Quay. Despite initially being proposed in 2016, it has spent pretty much all that time in development hell, with constant delays preventing anything from happening. The project seeks to refresh the corridor with new greenery, improved lighting, cycle lanes, anti-slip tiles, and widened footpaths. This would come at the expense of cars, which would not be allowed in the area for most of the day. Ergo, in 2024, an estimated 90% of Courtney Place businesses signed a petition against the project. 

Development on Courtney Place was slated to begin last year, but an $80 million cost blowout was discovered before shovels hit the ground. So, in his first council meeting as mayor, Little halted the project while the costs were reviewed.

“Even though the project has central government funding, any cost increase falls on the council,” explains Little. 

“The question is whether we can vary the Golden Mile in a way which keeps the ticket price within what we had planned, but still achieves something of value to Wellington.”

Asked how much extra cost Wellington City Council can absorb, Little responds with “none, really.”

“We've had some big cost blowouts on other big projects like Town Hall and the sludge minimisation plant. We have huge pressure on existing capital projects before we even embark on new ones. So we're just not in a position to absorb a lot of additional cost.

Some suspect that as the Golden Mile was largely a project of the last Labour government, Little pausing for a review is a way to soften its eventual cancellation, though this suspicion is not universal.

Pausing work on the Golden Mile passed unanimously by council in November. However, all four Green councilors were against the review. 

Laurie Foon—a Green councillor who was Tory Whanau’s deputy mayor—said her preferred option would be to put the contract for the Golden Mile out to tender. In other words, see if another company could do it for cheaper. 

Foon said council had only worked with one contractor, and putting it to market may have allowed council to find a cheaper competitor, especially as what exactly has caused the cost blowouts is unclear.

Foon’s preferred option was not one presented to councillors.

Right-leaning councillor Karl Tiefenbacher took the opposite approach, saying he was looking forward to the whole project being scrapped.

“I can't see how it can be rejigged or anything. We don't have the money to do anything really, and I don't think it was a good design anyway,” said Tiefenbacher. 

“I’m quite positive for the area, but I’m quite positive because I believe the Golden Mile will fall over.”

For what is the umpteenth time since 2016, the axe looms large over the Golden Mile, with the final review due back to Council next month.