Race against the clock in Wellington’s Golden Mile showdown

Saturday, 16 August 2025

Work being done at on Wellington’s Golden Mile, at the corner of Courtenay Place and Cambridge Terrace.

One man could lock Wellington into the controversial $139 million Courtenay Place overhaul or leave the next council with the power to kill it, a power which some mayoral hopefuls would gladly wield.

Most front-runners for the mayoralty are calling on the council to hold fire on signing any Golden Mile Courtenay Place contracts.

Mayor Tory Whanau has confirmed the signing of the contract for the Courtenay Place works was delegated to council chief executive Matt Prosser. He was expected to sign by the end of the year, likely in November. The previous council voted for the revamp and Whanau said Prosser was unlikely to put it back to a vote without a new council directing it.

The first meeting for the incoming council has not been set but after the last election, with voting ending on October 8, 2022, the new council did not meet until November 17. This time, voting ends three days later – suggesting a first meeting on November 20.

The Golden Mile overhaul, with a $139m budget, is far from the biggest spend for the council, which just had a $100m-odd cost blow-out on a half-billion-dollar sewage treatment facility.

But the impact the works will have on struggling businesses, public perceptions of the council prioritising nice-to-haves over essentials and its prioritisation away from private vehicles have made the project a political hot potato.

Whanau is hoping to remove that bullet from the campaign arsenal but, if successful, any hiccups from November will fall firmly in the next council’s lap.

Wellington City Council chief executive Matt Prosser now holds the fate of the Golden Mile in his hands.

Already, the minor works at the Courtenay Place and Cambridge Terrace intersection have hit a snag with infrastructure manager Brad Singh telling council of a five metre void found, raising questions of what will be unearthed when digging starts on the Golden Mile proper.

Mayoral candidate Andrew Little, who approved of the idea of the revamp if budget blow-outs could be avoided and business disruption minimised, called for a pause.

“I don’t think it would be wise for council officials to try to push a new mayor and council into a rushed decision given the recent history of the Town Hall and sludge plant blow-outs,” he said.

Diane Calvert pledged, in her first meeting as mayor, to bring a paper to halt the Courtenay Place project as well as linked projects such as the harbour quays bus lane, cross-city cycleways and Dixon St changes.

“Before the chief executive signs any contract, there must be clear cost certainty and a full understanding of the risks. We must get the numbers right first, not after the bill arrives,” she said.

Ray Chung said Prosser should at least wait for the new council to decide whether to go ahead with the project before signing any contracts.

Karl Tiefenbacher pledged to do “everything in my power” to stop the contract being signed.

“This is a terrible waste of ratepayers’ money,” he said.

Alex Baker bucked the trend, saying Prosser should push on and sign as long as forecasts did not move outside budget and contingencies.

The benefit to the city outweighed the cost and this model was also being funded by the Government and regional council, meaning Wellington City only paid a quarter of the cost, he said.

Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said Prosser could on-delegate signing power to staff and, while staff had been instructed to negotiate and sign the contract, the new council could revisit the issue.