Sorry seems to be the hardest word as Wellington's neighbouring mayors struggle to get information on a proposal for a regional indoor arena.
Porirua Mayor Mike Tana and Hutt City mayor Ray Wallace confirmed they only knew Wellington City Council (WCC) was in talks with global entertainment companies for a public-private partnership for the proposed 12,5000 Wellington arena after it was reported in Stuff.
The region's mayors agreed an arena was crucial for the region and other mayors were "quite miffed" with the lack of information, Wallace said.
"Given this is something that needs to be regionally funded, we were disappointed no-one had come to talk to us about it."
Wallace said Lester had since apologised, although Lester denied this. Wallace said he was called by Lester on Monday morning: "He says it was never an apology ... maybe it was an acknowledgement."
Lester's office responded there was not even an acknowledgement.
The region's mayors were eager to move fast when they shown a draft report a year ago putting the case for the new 12,500 seat arena.
But information requests from the Hutt City and Porirua mayors show that in the past 12 months they had had no correspondence with Wellington Mayor Justin Lester's office about the arena.
Lester said the arena was at the conceptual stage and the preferred location was still being confirmed. The project was being led by Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (Wreda) with support from council staff, he said.
"It received in-principle support from mayors at the Wellington Regional Strategy Forum and that is where updates will come from when new information is available."
Concert promoter Phil Sprey, a vocal critic of Lester's, met Wallace and Tana in mid-2018 to discuss the arena.
"I have had discussions with Ray Wallace since this meeting and his frustration is that Lester is just ignoring the other mayors/cities and has now sidelined Wreda when it should be a regional project, not exclusive to WCC."
Wallace, who said the mayors generally worked well together, confirmed this was correct except his frustration was more with the council, rather than Lester alone.
"From the little I know about [WCC's public-private model] it seems very exclusive."
Wallace had requested and received an update on the arena during a regional mayoral forum sometime in the past year.
Tana said there had been some talk in mayoral forums about the stadium.
He heard about the public-private partnership as well as the preferred site, near the Wellington Railway Station, via Stuff but said he was "OK with the process".
"Most things I see come out of Wellington City Council I see in the paper first."
He expected more information once decisions had to be made.
Wellington Mayoral Forum chairman and Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy confirmed the issue had come up at the forum as well as the Wellington Regional Strategy Forum, which all the region's mayors were part of.
There was still a commitment for the arena to be a regional facility, he said.
Wreda general manager David Perks said the organisation was not sidelined and was involved on confirming a suitable site.
Wreda commissioned a 2018 report the raised the possibility of a public-private partnership.