Putting the Golden Mile on "hold"
- Andrea Compton
- Aug 3
- 2 min read
Credit: Scoop article written by Andrea Compton 7 May 2025
As many of you may know, I am opposed to the Golden Mile project. The design is deeply flawed, the business case is based on fantasy and as a city we can’t afford the additional debt.
Mayor Tory Whanau turned the first sod last week, hours before withdrawing from the Mayoral race. Simply to say she “did it”.
According to records, only the contract for the Courtenay Place intersection has been signed, but she is determined to sign the contract for the full Courtenay Place (map above) before she leaves her position.
The real issue here is that ALL Mayoral candidates (Ray, Karl, Graham, Rob, Kelvin and Andrew) have stated publicly that they either would not proceed with the Golden Mile in the current design or that they don’t support it at all.
Andrew also has said he doesn’t feel it is appropriate to sign any contracts this close to an election, given that there will be a new mayor, new council and new direction.
So, this must leave Matt Prosser (the new CEO of WCC) in a tricky position.
How, in all good conscience, can he allow the council to proceed with a second contract, knowing he would be putting Wellington into a position to need to cancel it and likely face financial penalties, and put Wellington into further financial strain.
All future contracts must be put on hold until after October, to avoid any further hurt to the Wellington Ratepayers.
We are running out of time, and one of the only strategies we have left is to email our CEO and councillors, reminding them of their obligation to be financially prudent, and that our future leader is not on board with the Golden Mile, and they are setting up the next council for unnecessary financial penalties.
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