The end of the road for the Golden Mile
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Dave Armstrong is a playwright and satirist based in Wellington. He is a regular opinion contributor.
OPINION: The Golden Mile is dead! Long live the crappy Courtenay Place improvements!
Last week, in a decision which surprised few Wellingtonians, the council decided not to proceed with the Golden Mile project.
A recent independent review found that the $139 million project had ballooned to a potential $220 million. And in a development that threatened the livelihoods of every satirist in the city, even the review into how much over budget the Golden Mile project could go went over budget.
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But wasn’t Waka Kotahi going to shell out 51% of the funding? Yes, in theory, although there were concerns raised – possibly overblown – that the transport agency could withdraw funding if the design or viability of the project changed.
Mayor Andrew Little campaigned on reviewing the project, which most of us knew would lead to stopping it.
Was the council’s decision evidence of a lack of vision? Yes and no.
Most thriving cities have areas where cars are forbidden and people can enjoy themselves without traffic whizzing by.
Currently, you can park a car in Courtenay Place, but you’re not allowed to park a scooter. Getting rid of cars from the Golden Mile would decrease air pollution, which has recently increased, and make the CBD more attractive. In cities where pedestrianisation occurs, retail and hospo spending generally increases.
If the project had gone ahead, the Golden Mile would have been done up and pedestrian areas widened. But there would still be buses whizzing through and a cycle lane, so hardly pedestrian heaven.
So why weren’t we consulted about all this?
We were, five times, although anyone who took part in the LGWM (Let’s Get Wellington Moving) consultation knows that you often get strongly pro and anti voices giving their views, but not those in between. And there were definitely some, including business owners on the stretch, who didn’t want a bar of the Golden Mile project.
As for paying for it, as with the LGWM consultation, we were never given an either/or situation. If I was asked whether I wanted to blow $200 million on a new convention centre or the Golden Mile project, I would have chosen the latter. But we are usually only asked whether we want something or not. It’s like asking a kid if they want a bike for Christmas or a bike and a soccer ball.
Even though there were obvious benefits to the Golden Mile project, we didn’t have politicians and officers with the talent to get most people behind it and successfully deliver it. The previous mayor and council got distracted by the Reading Centre, thinking it would revitalise Courtenay Place. Meanwhile, those opposed to the Golden Mile project, rightly or wrongly, felt ignored.
I suspect the way the councillors finally voted was broadly reflective of the population’s views. Three of the four Greens thought the project was a no-brainer, especially if half was going to be paid for by Waka Kotahi. The right-wing independents never wanted it – they don’t want cars banned from the city, and they worried about the disruption to retail businesses that construction would cause.
The Labour councillors reflected the middle and possibly the majority view. They liked the Golden Mile project in theory, but worried it was another cost that could blow out an already stretched budget.
It’s like building a new home and the materials cost 50% more than you budgeted for, the drains take twice as long to install as you’d planned, and just as you’re panicking about the cost, the builder tells you that putting in some expensive solar panels would be good for the environment and would ultimately save you money.
So, is the so-called left-wing Green-Labour council now a myth?
Not really.
In the same week that Labour and the independents voted together to kibosh the Golden Mile project, Labour and Green councillors joined forces to increase the number of rental scooters in the city by 1000, a move opposed by the right-wing independents.
As they threw out the Golden Mile plans, the council supported putting money ($20-40 million) into improving Courtenay Place.
Will it work?
I suspect the shabby state of the area is a symptom rather than a cause of our city’s malaise, more to do with factors beyond the council’s control.
Homelessness has spiked largely because of central government housing policy, hospo is doing it tough because of the recession and people’s changing habits, while retail outlets are closing on Auckland’s K Road and in other cities, not just Wellington. And there are now fewer public servants here thanks to government cutbacks.
As someone who loves blaming the bloody council for all sorts of things, I can’t attribute the state of Courtenay Place entirely to them.
And the future?
When the economy finally improves, look out for people just back from holidays in Amsterdam, Paris or Copenhagen loudly telling you how wonderful it was sitting in an outdoor bar or café, watching the world go by with not a car in sight to spoil the ambience.