$400,000 review into Wellington’s Golden Mile blows its budget
Thursday, 11 June 2026
A review into Wellington’s Golden Mile – a project that has had multiple budget overruns – has now blown its own budget while it appears Crown funding may be at risk.
The review was meant to cost up to $400,000 but, as members of the nine-member review committee released findings to the council on Thursday, they confirmed to councillor Diane Calvert that the review had cost $460,000.
“Additional costs over the $400,000 have resulted from the unexpended need to uncouple data between harbour [quays] and Golden Mile, and the complexity of the investigations,” information supplied to councillors said.
Mayor Andrew Little stopped the presentation to ask how many paid consultants were currently on the call. There were four.
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“We seem to have a lot of consultants at the meeting, and I’ve raised this in the previous context,” he said after the presentation. “You don’t need a cast of thousands to present a report.”
A council spokesperson said the extra costs of the review were “flagged and managed” as the project went along.
The review put forward five options for the Golden Mile, ranging from doing nothing to staying with the status quo. The council will now go away with the report and bring ideas to a meeting next week to decide future of the project.
Under questioning from deputy mayor Ben McNulty, the review team confirmed that the transport benefits of the project now looked worse than earlier thought. NZTA Waka Kotahi was going to help fund the project but the new findings put that at risk.
Speaking afterwards, Little said Government funding was now “absolutely” at risk.
The Golden Mile project was to be a complete refit of the Courtenay Place to Lambton Quay stretch through the heart of Wellington, with a focus on pedestrianisation and public transport.
It was originally part of the $7.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving overhaul of Wellington transport, which was ditched by the new Government soon after taking power almost three years ago.
The Golden Mile aspect was carved out as a standalone project but was opposed by numerous business owners along the stretch - concerned about lengthy roadworks and accessing their businesses. The only part to actually get built was a traffic island between Kent and Cambridge terraces.
Little made the first major move of his new position in November by bringing a vote to council to pause and review the Golden Mile project. The vote passed 12 votes to four with only Green councillors opposed.
It came after new figures were presented to the council showing the projected cost had blown out from $160 million to $220m, after starting as a $78m project in 2020.
The cost of construction disruption would be between $51m and $79m. “Any delays in delivering the work could further compound impacts to consumer spending and goodwill”, the presentation on Thursday noted.
The nine-member Golden Mile review team presented to the council in mid-May to talk about the methodology they were using in the review but were rebuked by Little for the appearance of mission-creep.
“You seem to be going into highly value judgement-laden areas which, with all due respect, is not your role,” he told the team.