The Dunedin City Council is stepping in to resolve a land dispute that has closed a popular walking track on Otago Peninsula.
Council transportation policy engineer Jon Visser said the council planned to form a new section of McTaggart Track - linking Broad Bay, Company Bay and Larnach Castle - to reopen the track later this year.
The work was expected to cost a few thousand dollars and be completed in October, although exact details were still being finalised.
The original track passed through two private properties, and had been closed since earlier this year when one of the two landowners asked for an end to public access across their land, Mr Visser said.
As a result, council staff planned to extend the track about 200m, taking it further up McTaggart St and around the objecting landowner's property, before rejoining the existing track on an adjacent property, he said.
The track was widely advertised and used by an increasing number of residents and tourists, and the council was committed to maintaining the peninsula walking link, he said.
''We are trying to balance the rights of the private property owner and the expectations of the community,'' he said.
