Golden Mile review: Wellington mayor tells $400k panel to stay in its lane
Thursday, 14 May 2026
Wellington mayor Andrew Little has warned a Golden Mile review team to leave politics to the politicians after it appeared mission creep had slipped into the $400,000 process.
One of Little’s first moves as mayor was a vote to pause and review the Golden Mile project – a revamp of the inner city stretch from Courtenay Place to Lambton Quay – as another blowout took the expected cost from $160 million to $220m.
The plan started with a $78m budget in 2020 and was originally part of the $7.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) project, which was ditched by the National-led central Government.
The nine-member independent panel on Tuesday fronted to a council workshop ‒ not to say whether the project remained viable but to talk about the methodology it used. It is due to report back on viability in June.
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Panel chairperson Chris Wilkinson told the council it was focused on “impartiality and objectiveness” – a line that didn’t wash with the mayor.
“You seem to be going into highly value judgment-laden areas which, with all due respect, is not your role,” Little said.
The review, budgeted at $400,000, was supposed to be an independent assessment but Little said it was unclear if the panel had looked at re-scoping it.
“The only remaining question I would have is, how many of the panel have been involved in either early iterations of the Golden Mile project the LGWM project?”
Wilkinson said none of the members were involved in the Golden Mile but “some of the organisations” on the panel represented had been involved in LGWM.
Councillor Diane Calvert on Wednesday said she understood most of the panel had previously been involved in LGWM.
Little said the independent review was commissioned “because we had heard about the additional cost to implement it – $60m. The council cannot afford $60m.
“So a benefit-cost-ratio analysis that comes back and says $60m is still value for money is not going to lead to, we will just carry in regardless.
“We cannot afford $60m extra.”
In a statement after the session, Little said the review was to test, in the current economic conditions, whether the project remained viable and aligned with its original goals given the cost and risk escalation.
'I raised a concern that there was an appearance of the review panel moving beyond that scope into the realm of making – or the perception of making – decisions that must remain with elected members,“ he said.
'My expectation is that the review remains within the scope set by councillors and leaves political decisions to the council.'
Councillor Geordie Rogers, who with Green colleagues wanted the project to continue without a review, did not consider the panel had mission creep. “It sounds like they were going to do exactly what we asked for,” he said.
He had assurances from council staff after the session that nobody on the panel was tied to previous Golden Mile decisions.
Wilkinson was approached for comment.
In November the council voted to get an independent review to “determine the validity of whether the project remains strategically aligned” considering changes in cost, risk, and an updated benefit-cost ratio. It was to include analysis of short and longer term construction economic impacts to central Wellington.
Meeting minutes show the review would “validate, but not fundamentally change, the existing project’s objectives and benefits”.
It also called for advice on “whether minor changes to the project scope, or descoping options could be achieved, within the existing funding envelope, whilst retaining 51% funding from the New Zealand Transport Agency”.