Stuff reported yesterday that Wellington City Council has already began tearing up recently completed roadworks on Thorndon Quay, to remove raised safety platforms.

“We could see this planning failure coming, half of Wellington saw this coming, so how didn’t the Council? Do Council staff not talk to each other?” said James Ross, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at the Taxpayers’ Union.

“Businesses along Thorndon Quay didn’t want these business-destroying roadworks in the first place, and now they have to go through it twice. If the Council’s plan is to reduce traffic by destroying Thorndon Quay as a shopping destination, then they’re well on their way.”

“When the decrepit pipes under Thorndon Quay go bang in the near future, the roadworks are getting dug up yet again. The Post called this ‘utter madness’, but that doesn’t go far enough to explain this gross incompetence. If this is the best the Council can muster, it’s no wonder ratepayers’ bills are tripling.”

NOTES:

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is an independent and membership-driven activist group, dedicated to being the voice for Kiwi taxpayers in the corridors of power. Its mission, lower taxes, less waste, more accountability, is supported by 200,000 subscribed members and supporters.

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