Bay of Plenty ratepayers are reclaiming main street footpaths they say have been lost to inconsiderate and profit-grabbing restaurateurs and café owners.

The ratepayers say the footpaths down the main street in Mount Maunganui, and elsewhere, are ‘littered with tables and chairs', are impassable for two way pedestrian traffic at times, and restaurateurs are ‘out of control'.

Congestion on main street – pedestrians versus diners.

'When is a foot path not a foot path?” rails Pitau Road ratepayer Peter Morris. 'When it's a foot path down Maunganui Road. So when did we lose our footpaths to restaurants and cafés?”

'Those businesses should be paying for the right to use footpaths which are owned and maintained by the ratepayer,” insists Susan Broad of Katikati.

But the town hall is staunch – it says the system's working well and it's not a problem because there is no problem.

The council has received 12 complaints in the last 12 months. 'It suggests the issue of café furniture is not a big concern for most people,” says Tauranga City Council bylaw enforcer Stuart Goodman. Complaints are ‘investigated and worked through with businesses'.

So no prosecutions, the restaurateurs flout without fear, and the diners and eateries retain control of the walkways.

'So far there has been no cause for stronger enforcement or prosecution,” says Stuart.

Some restaurants may flout, but Mandy Gillgren, co-owner of Zeytins, says they carefully observe the rules.

'Our external tables have specific places,” says Mandy. 'They never move and we've never had a complaint.” And they've been there for 10 years.

She does admit she has seen congestion up and down the street.

'But we are really aware,” she adds.

However, pedestrians like Peter and Susan want to give the councils cause.

'If ratepayers are being stung for the maintenance of an amenity – the footpath – that they no longer have access to because of café tables and chairs, then there is a problem,” says Susan.

'It doesn't matter where the footpath is.” So this is not a problem peculiar to the Mount.

'I don't think café and restaurant owners respect that a footpath is a footpath first, and then a place for smoking and eating café patrons. They have this attitude of more tables, more people, more profits and they are using our footpaths to do it,” says Susan.

She chimed into the debate after becoming upset on behalf of a local on a mobility scooter.

'The footpath was cluttered with crap - chairs and tables and sandwich boards – and she couldn't get past. I had to move the furniture for her.”

'This just isn't right,” says Susan. With Katikati being 50-to-60 percent retirees and home to fleets of mobility scooters, 'I can put myself there because my old Dad has a mobility scooter.”

When the local council explained to Susan that it was ‘trying to maintain a village atmosphere in Katikati', she scoffed. 'I hate to say it, but Katikati's main strip is starting to look like a third world marketplace. Crowded, cluttered, two dollar shops, and impassable for a large number of its rate-paying residents.”

She has a solution. 'If shop owners choose to use part of Katikati's footpath then it should be regulated, limited, and they should pay for the right.”

Ken Jones is from Bethlehem, but he has made main street Mount Maunganui's problem his problem.

'Often if there are two pedestrians approaching one another from opposite directions outside a café or restaurant, one has to stop and give way,” he says.

'The tables seat four and often people don't sit right up to the table, or they lounge back at the end of their meal which means they're using even more of the footpath.”

But it's a seaside setting – isn't the hustle and bustle and alfresco dining all part of the Mount's ambient charm?

'Sure,” says Ken Jones. 'But it's a footpath after all and a footpath is for pedestrians first and foremost. I am not sure of the bylaws but I suspect there's no enforcement.”

He's right and wrong.

There is no limitation on the number of tables and chairs cafés and restaurants can place on the footpath along the Mount main street so long as they don't obstruct pedestrians.

They're even allowed to put those tables and chairs in front of other businesses if they have the blessing of that business.

The council says there's on-going monitoring to ensure compliance.

But no permit is required, no charge is imposed, and there's no return for the ratepayer.

Ken came from the UK and holidayed in Spain, Italy, and France. 'I love the continental look and feel but their streets are designed for that lifestyle – they are wide. Ours aren't.”

Dunedin City Council is apparently one local authority that has confronted the problem after an outcry from ratepayers.

Care and restaurant owners have to pay for each seat on the street, they can only have so many seats on the footpath, and there is a demarcation line.

Peter believes council's in the Bay ‘hold most of the responsibility for the mess' down our main streets. 'There are few rules governing the use of footpaths for tables and chairs and even less enforcement.”

He says councils, cafés, and restaurants need to respect there is another group of ratepayers who simply want the use of their footpaths. 'We are being denied the use of our own environment,” he adds.

Peter wants to know why they can't make their money without shifting their customers onto the street. And Susan believes the shop premises are the point of trading while the footpath is an access way for pedestrians.

Peter is critical of what he suggests is council inaction. 'The council needs to draw a line. And it needs to ensure that line is not violated.”

And it's a fine line. The TCC's Stuart Goodman wants to maintain the right balance between enhancing the street environment and ensuring foot paths are clear and accessible.

Peter, on the other hand, wants the right to walk unimpeded down his main street without tipping someone's lunch on the footpath or skinning his shins.