A Wellington city councillor has lamented the council's feeling of being trapped in the Town Hall project after yet another price hike, raising the project amount to $329 million. 

A majority of councillors yesterday agreed to accept the new budget for the redevelopment and quake-strengthening of the heritage-listed building. 

Since the Town Hall was declared earthquake-prone and closed in 2013, the cost of the work has grown from $43m to $60m to $90m to $112m and, last year, to $182m.

The cost escalation has been put down to the condition of the building and the ground it sits on is worse than expected.

Talking to The Mike Hosking Breakfast on Thursday, Wellington city councillor Tony Randle said the council is beyond the point of no return and simply must plough on. 

"We don't have a choice," said Randle. 

"We're trapped into doing this by the law and the courts, it's impossible not to do this at this stage."

He said council officers had presented options to the council on what the alternative approaches might be, but it would require consulting with "the entire city" if they don't continue - something he said isn't possible at this point. 

Randle was asked if the council would have avoided the project if they knew what the cost would be. 

"Hell yeah," he responded. 

"If we knew the price at the beginning, I think we'd be looking at some other options because $330 million would buy us a pretty amazing brand-new spanking town hall."

He said the same went for the neighbouring Michael Fowler Centre, which he said faces the prospect of possibly being demolished as the council can't face another repeat of the Town Hall fiasco. 

Randle believes it's a "terrific facility" but there were lessons the council had learned from the last drama. 

"We've got to look really closely at these buildings, built on our land before we decide what we're going to do - this is a warning for councillors who plan to do high-risk projects."

Wellington City Council has been under severe scrutiny in recent weeks, with the combination of the Town Hall funding issues and yesterday's damning report suggesting a $1 billion budget gap due to overall project costs. 

But Randle believes the council, despite criticism from the public, is dominated by progressive individuals who want to push on with their agenda. 

"A lot of people are very worried though that we have a list that's too long and we can't afford it," the councillor said. 

"I'm concerned how many of these critical suburban projects just won't happen because $147 million more goes into this money pit."