Golden Mile vote highlights Wellington City Council’s impotence
Friday, 19 June 2026
Tom Hunt is a senior reporter for The Post, covering local government
ANALYSIS: If there is one moment that underlines just how impotent, how buffeted by outside forces, the Wellington City Council is, it came just before lunchtime on Thursday.
That was the moment, by a vote of 14 to three, the decade-long dream to rejuvenate the Golden Mile from Courtenay Place to Lambton Quay through the heart of the city failed.
It was the moment that showed how hamstrung the current council finances are, as it deals with budget blowouts from previous trienniums. The $500m sludge plant and $330m Town Hall refit are the glaring examples.
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It was the moment the council acknowledged the Beehive – via an incoming rates cap and questions over whether Waka Kotahi sharing funding for the Golden Mile would come through – held disproportionate sway over decisions of a democratically elected council.
And it was the moment that Wellington accepted that our most high-profile stretch of real estate would just have to stay a bit shit for a bit longer.
That was, after all, what we voted for.
A campaigning Andrew Little in 2025 made no secret that he would cut back excessive spending as mayor. And as mayor who brought in an army of Labour councillors with him he has done just that.
The independents on council, all to the political right, have long opposed the Golden Mile and the glee on their faces post-vote showed it. For all, it was glee at money not spent and business disruption avoided. But for some it was also the resounding middle finger to the Greens that elicited such youthful joy.
Four Green councillors – Laurie Foon, Geordie Rogers, Rebecca Matthews and Jonny Osborne – sit on the council, but Osborne voted with the majority.
For the remaining three, it was a visibly upsetting defeat, not least as the Golden Mile was to be previous Green mayor Tory Whanau’s legacy.
There will be bad blood, but they are all big enough people to get over it.
Now council staff have been sent away to come up with a plan for the tired Courtenay Place party stretch with a drastically reduced budget.
This time, Little is unequivocal that Courtenay Place can’t stay the hovel it is and he carries a near majority with his loyal Labour councillors.
A plan will come back to improve Courtenay Place because, right now, anything would be an improvement.
This time it will be Little’s legacy that is on the line: the continuation of Wellington’s answer to Skid Row or a vibrant and safe party zone.
But the latter will come at a cost, expected to be $20m to $40m.
The question is, will the independents put aside their famed hatred of spending to help push something through? Will the Greens put aside their ill-feelings from this week’s vote?
The answer is optimistically yes because right now Little has political capital to burn and his council knows it.