Legal action, cones and speed bumps: The road that closed Bordeaux Bakery

• Bordeaux Bakery is closing all three of its stores after a 60-70% drop in revenue, with 40 people set to lose their jobs.
• Owner Tony Bates blames Wellington City Council road changes in Thorndon Quay for having a devastating impact on his business.
• Mayor Tory Whanau says it’s incredibly sad to hear of the closure and that the city is in transition working toward a brighter future

A road embroiled in Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM), legal action, “crazy” raised pedestrian crossings, and a sea of road cones, is now being blamed for the demise of Bordeaux Bakery after 30 years in business.

Changes to Thorndon Quay, described as one of the most important commuter routes for Wellingtonians, were originally planned as part of the ill-fated $7.4 billion LGWM transport plan. The changes are being made to give people more low-carbon transport options in the capital.

The coalition Government swiftly killed LGWM when it came to power with Act leader David Seymour saying the “left-wing fantasy project was a drain on taxpayers and ratepayers”.

Wellington City Council then took over responsibility for the Thorndon Quay project which includes peak-hour bus lanes in both directions, a two-way cycleway and five signalised pedestrian and bike crossings.

What Wellington's Thorndon Quay will look like with new peak-hour bus lanes, a cycleway and fewer car parks. Photo / Wellington City Council

There are varying reports over the years of exactly how many car parks have been removed as a result. Wellington City Council told the Herald today that 75 car parks have been lost overall.

Controversy erupted well before construction started when the council decided in 2021 to replace angle car parks with parallel parking due to concerns about the safety of cyclists.

This had the effect of “significantly reducing the number of parks available in the key business areas of Thorndon Quay”, court documents said.

Thorndon Quay Collective chairman Paul Robinson said businesses received letters that work would start on converting the parks just days after the city shifted to Covid-19 alert level 2.

“It’s totally tone-deaf”, Robinson told the Herald at the time.

“Businesses have been locked down for two or three weeks. We’re just desperate to get ourselves sorted out and back on our feet and the next moment we’re fighting rearguard action against the council.”

The Thorndon Quay Collective applied for a judicial review in the Wellington High Court later that year but was unsuccessful.

The group then took its case to The Court of Appeal and won.

But while the court found the council did not comply with its obligations under the law, it did not order the ongoing roadworks be halted, or the car park changes undone.

Construction on the main changes to Thorndon Quay’s road layout began in late 2023 and is expected to be complete by mid-2025.

Wellington City Council was concerned about the safety of cyclists and decided to replace angle parks with parallel parking in 2021. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Earlier this year Robinson launched a petition, now signed by 2200 people, to halt roadworks until an independent project review was undertaken.

His concerns included that there was no plan to replace 100-year-old pipes while the road was being ripped up and that the economic impact of the work had been grossly underestimated.

Wellington City Council officials said they had acted on the advice of LGWM and Wellington Water, neither of which proposed any water renewals be undertaken alongside construction.

They said there was no evidence to suggest the economic impacts experienced by businesses in the vicinity of the project were directly attributable to the construction work.

“The economic impacts are similar to those currently being felt across the city”, council documents said.

Councillors decided in September to continue with construction work as planned, undertake a review of the project once it was finished and asked council officials to investigate “micro-grants” of up to $1500 per business.

On whether this amount of money would be significant, councillor Geordie Rogers acknowledged it didn’t sound like a lot but said: “The kind of analogy for me is we may not be giving an apple tree but we’re fertilising the saplings they have – so that when the work is done, there’s far more fruit to bear”.

Councillor Nicola Young replied: “But what he didn’t say is that the council’s already put weed killer down. That’s the end of that tree”.

Wellington City Councillor Nicola Young likened construction on Thorndon Quay to putting down weed killer. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Wellington City Council also had to make changes to Thorndon Quay’s design after the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) advised it would no longer fund “raised safety platforms”.

This was following the Government’s policy statement on land transport which said that money should not be used for traffic calming measures like speed bumps, raised crossings and in-lane bus stops.

There were five signalised raised pedestrian crossings planned on Thorndon Quay.

Local Government and Transport Minister Simeon Brown waded in and said putting speed bumps on a main arterial route in Wellington was crazy.

The cash-strapped council decided in August to remove one crossing and change two others from raised platforms to level crossings.

Yesterday, Bordeaux Bakery announced it was closing all three of its stores.

The bakery and cafes in Thorndon Quay, Featherston St, and Lambton Quay are all closing on Sunday, and the wholesale bakery operation too.

Owner Tony Bates told the Herald he was devastated to have to shut up shop and primarily blamed the council’s “ongoing removal of car parks”.

“Everyone keeps telling us how hard it is to get to us”, he said.

“It got to a point a couple of weeks ago when we were crunching the numbers that we were going to end up insolvent,” Bates said.

Bordeaux Bakery on Thorndon Quay is set to close. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Turnover was down 60-70% because of the works outside, Bates said.

Mayor Tory Whanau said she was “incredibly sad” to hear of the closure and any business doing it tough in the current economic environment.

“Our city has been greatly impacted by a range of factors such as public sector job cuts and increased cost of living and remote working.”

The council was working to support local businesses through periods of construction work, Whanau said.

“We have launched a business support initiative, which includes regular communications and dedicated engagement services about major projects, marketing and promotional activity for the area, wayfinding, and a dedicated small business support manager who meets with businesses one to one”, she said.

“We are a city in transition working toward a brighter future while fast-tracking work that has been underinvested in the past. Every city goes through this and it is always difficult, but our community can work through this.”

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.