The feud that split a popular coastal walkway in two

Auckland local Sherry Lin, 50, wanders along the Takapuna-Milford walkway every week.

With her friends, she would walk past jagged lava rocks and dip under red pōhutukawa trees: "It's very beautiful".

But since September, a fence has split the walk in two.

"It's disappointing... Half of it has been blocked. I just turn around and come back," Lin said.

She's not the only one. Stuff spoke to more than a dozen walkers who said seeing the "iconic" pathway split in half was "devastating".

A section of the walk was closed on 29 September, 2023, when a decade-long battle between property owners and Auckland Council reached deadlock.

It centred on a seaside cottage with heritage status.

The owners offered to give part of the property to Auckland Council to be used as a walkway, according to their lawyer and representative, Alex Witten-Hannah​.

This came with several conditions, including that the council apply to remove the home's 'Heritage A' status so that the rest of the property could be sold without its restrictions. While protected, it cannot be knocked down.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said council was being "held at ransom" - a claim Witten-Hannah​ strongly refuted.

"They [the owners] are sitting on several million dollars worth of land which is clearly what they want to get their hands on," Brown said in a Planning, Environment and Parks Committee meeting.

"It's not the sort of behaviour that I approve of."

Unable to see eye to eye, Auckland Council handed the ball to the local board to come up with a solution.

Now, they are back to square one, said Takapuna-Devonport local board chair Toni van Tonder.

"We are just going to start from scratch," she said. "Some options will be ruled out, some options we will investigate further."

The feud dates back to 2012 when a storm destroyed a bridge that let walkers circle the cottage.

With the bridge gone, the property's late owner, Paul Firth, allowed people to cut through his garden. A year later, his house was given a heritage listing.

It's not clear whether Firth supported this change, but years of conflict followed.

There have been failed attempts to sell the property to the council, debates over creating an easement, quarrels over unpaid rates, and - finally - the demand to remove the heritage listing all together.

It is a long history for a local board to trawl through.

"I'm hopeful," van Tonder said. "This has opened the door for us to sit down with the beneficiaries in good faith and see what we achieve together."

In the meantime, the fence has not come down.

Walkers like Sherry Lin still have to walk up a steep detour or abandon the walk altogether.

"This walkway is very important," Lin said. "I just hope they can solve the problem as soon as possible."

- This story was first published by Stuff.