Shovels hit the ground for Golden Mile, but no grants for businesses

Monday, 28 April 2025

Tory Whanau says the city is moving into the future as work starts on the Golden Mile.

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau took part in a blessing and sod-turning ceremony on Monday for the long-awaited Golden Mile.

The first stage of the project, at the Cambridge Tce intersection, is expected to take eight months.

Council officers confirmed there will be no grants, including micro-grants, available for businesses.

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau pushed a shovel into the dirt, then stood back with a sigh of relief. She raised her hands in the air and let out a loud cheer. It was a sunny Monday morning in the capital, and work on the Golden Mile project was about to begin.

For Whanau, this has been a long time coming. She is delivering the first part of a transformational project that has haunted her first term as mayor.

Mana whenua blessed the site of the first Golden Mile works accompanied by councillors and other stakeholders on Monday.

But for the 50% of businesses in the project area that oppose the change, it could spell the beginning of the end. And they can give up hope of even a $1500 micro-grant from the council.

“I know things are going to be tough during that construction period, and we'll continue working with businesses to get through that,” Whanau acknowledged after the blessing and sod-turning ceremony.

But that work won’t include any financial compensation, the council’s transport and infrastructure manager, Brad Singh, confirmed, with even a $1500 micro-grant akin to those offered to Thorndon Quay businesses off the table.

“The project does not have the budget for financial compensation. That's been the stance of the project throughout its life, we haven't changed our stance at all,” Singh said.

Council officers confirmed there is no budget for financial compensation for businesses, including for micro-grants.

That differs from two months ago when, speaking to Stuff, Mayor Whanau suggested that micro-grants were an option council was considering.

“We are just finalising a business support package which will enable access to grants,” she said at the time.

“It would be similar to what we did in Thorndon. Look, it’s not going to fix everyone’s problem, we know this, but what we know from a couple of hospitality businesses telling us directly is, even a grant of $1500 can make all the difference.”

Monday morning’s ceremony took place at the intersection of Courtenay Place and Cambridge Tce. This is the site of the first stage of work, expected to take eight months.

Work on the rest of Courtenay Place down to Taranaki St will widen footpaths, construct outdoor dining areas and improve lighting. This is expected to start immediately after and take two years to complete.

First designs for Golden Mile project that mayor Tory Whanau says will mark a key step in Wellington's transformation into a more modern, walkable city.

Other key changes in that stage will include the removal of bus stops in front of the St James Theatre and Reading Cinema Complex, the addition of physically demarcated bike lanes and laying of new, slip-proof pavement.

But no contract has been signed for any work beyond the Cambridge Tce intersection, and Singh would not say whether he expects it will be ahead of the election.

“Project negotiations are really complicated, especially for projects of this sort of nature,” he said.

Whanau said she felt confident it would be signed by October, but when asked if she had any knowledge to back that up, “I just made an assumption,” was her response.

Mayor Tory Whanau said she is “optimistic” a contract for the rest of the works will be signed by the October election.

The Golden Mile project has been one of the most contentious issues of Whanau’s mayoral term with a vote to keep the project winning narrowly during a tumultuous end to 2024.

“This has been almost 10 years in the making, with a number of consultations,” she said. “There's been a lot of passion, good and bad put into the project, but I see this as a real turning point for the city and for our future.”

But if the contract is not signed by the election, it could all be for nothing.

Andrew Little, Labour’s mayoral candidate, has said he would not relitigate any contracts that have been signed for the Courtenay Place revitalisation, but he would “reassess the phasing” of any aspects of the project where dotted lines were yet to be signed.

Ray Chung, incumbent councillor and mayoral candidate, would seek to scrap the whole project, irrespective of any signed contracts.

All that will come. But for Whanau, Monday was about celebration.

“Today is a very important day,” she said. “It is the first day of true transformation of Courtenay Place.”