Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker
Wellington councillors have voted against the demands of a petition calling for a major road upgrade to be paused and put under independent review.
The $43 million Thorndon Quay upgrade project was developed under the now defunct Let's Get Wellington Moving (LGWM)plan, to improve bus, cycling and walking down the CBD road.
When LGWM was scrapped early this year, the project came under the control of Wellington City Council.
Last month a group of businesses on the road named the Thorndon Quay Collective delivered a 1937-signature strong petition demanding it be put on hold.
They claimed council officers who advised councillors on the project did not tell them about ageing water pipes running underneath the works.
That claim centred around a draft memo sent by Wellington Water in September 2022 to the Let's Get Wellington Moving staff. It identified that water pipes under the road could be considered for renewal during the project's construction.
City council staff could not find a record of that memo being sent to them, and stated in agenda documents released this week their senior management only cited it when Thorndon Quay Collective chairperson Paul Robinson sent it to them this year.
Robinson said at a meeting on Thursday prior to the vote that he was disappointed in Wellington City Council (WCC).
"I know this morning you're all going to vote against getting an independent review done, well the majority of you are going to vote for that. And I just have to say that's very, very disappointing because you're exposing us to incredible business risk."
Councillor Tony Randle supported the petition, and told RNZ people's confidence in council would be shaken.
"We should have listened to these businesses - they're the ones under pressure on Thorndon Quay and we haven't listened."
Councillor Tim Brown voted against the petition because he felt council staff's review of their procedures exonerated them of claims made in the petition. He also believed delaying the review would be costly, which he mentioned in the meeting.
"The idea of pausing the project today, putting further disruption on the businesses, putting further cost on the city, putting further burden on ratepayers is just completely ridiculous."
The group also believed the council had completely failed to understand the financial impact the roadworks were having on businesses.
Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker
In agenda documents, council staff said the suggestion they did not tell elected members about the state of the pipes under the roading upgrade was wrong.
"WCC officers have acted on the advice of both the LGWM project team and Wellington Water, neither of which proposed any water renewals be conducted alongside the construction of the project."
They conducted further analysis of the available information on the pipes under the road, which found it was not necessary to stop the project and fix them now.
The council staff also stated that there was no evidence to suggest that negative economic performance by nearby businesses was directly attributable to the project's construction works.
Whilst the petition's demands were not taken up, councillors did vote to provide businesses near the project with a $1500 grant to support them through the ongoing construction process.
The officers said putting the plan on hold to review it and redesign it so the water pipes underneath it can be fixed could result in a 12-month delay and a $10 million increase to its costs.
