Independent review of Wellington City Council 'surprising and disappointing' - Councillor

An independent review of Wellington City Council's governance is a waste of time and money, according to one Councillor.

Mayor Andy Foster announced the review via a statement on Wednesday morning, saying he believes the council has reached "a crossroads".

The prospect has been raised after a number of major disagreements at the council, including decisions on the fate of the earthquake-damaged central library building.

Councillor Tamatha Paul told Newshub it's not an independent review that's needed - it's better processes around disputes and better leadership.

"If you have smooth processes you don't get the eruption of political views clashing but that's what happens when the process and the leadership isn't as good as it could be."

She says the announcement came out of leftfield.

"It was a surprise to all of us - we weren't really given any notice before the announcement was made and some of us are pretty disappointed because the issues raised could be raised internally."

Foster said on Wednesday the review was to try and address the "infighting" in the council. 

"I want us all as elected representatives to seize this moment, dispel the current atmosphere of rancour and partisanship and move to a position where we can make better decisions and focus on what really matters."

But Paul says those issues are, for the most part, just politics. 

"The partisanship and exchanging different views with the media - that's just part and parcel politics - you have ideological differences."

Those differences are not helped by the lack of teamwork in the council, she says. 

"There's hardly any of that team building and that needs to come from the Mayor because he has the tools to enable that and that has led to all the problems we see."

She says she doesn't see the need for the review at all.

"We're going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a review which will tell us what we know already - which is that communication needs to be better."