No cost-benefit analysis for $12.8m pedestrianisation of Queen Street

The Auckland Ratepayer’s Alliance can reveal that Auckland Council failed to conduct a specific cost-benefit analysis for the $12.8m pedestrianisation of Queen Street in Auckland's CBD.

The project involved the removal of car lanes and widening of footpaths, affecting hundreds of businesses, making Queen Street virtually un-drivable and disrupting emergency services.

Auckland Ratepayers Alliance spokesperson Sam Warren said: "A cost-benefit analysis should be stock standard for any project, especially one of this scale.

"Rather than doing the work to figure out whether this was a good use of ratepayer money, Auckland Council produced a range of vague and un-costed platitudes, such as ‘Aucklanders are prepared for change’, and ‘making the city centre attractive, healthier, inclusive and safer’ - presumably because they knew any economic analysis would rubbish their proposals.

"Once again, the pursuit of ideologically-driven pet projects takes a higher priority over respect for the ratepayer, which in reality, they should be accountable to."

The Council's response to our request for official information is available here: