Tauranga City Council is acting to stop further tussling between dog walkers and cyclists along the scenic pathway of Harbour Drive.

The cyclists were kicked off in July after complaints from pedestrians and dog walkers about their behaviour.

The Harbour Drive pathway will be used by both cyclists and pedestrians.

Council erected signposts stopping cyclists from using the pathway, which were then protested against in July by path users, led by local resident Philip Simpson.

The cyclists are upset over the ban saying there are other shared paths along the harbour front between Chapel Street and Matua that are just as narrow as Harbour Drive's concrete footpath.

But council transportation manager Martin Parkes says it is not the narrowness, but the path's legal status as a 'footpath” that prohibits cyclists.

To allow cyclists to use the pathway the footpath's legal status will need to be amended under council's Traffic and Parking bylaw, which council has agreed to do.

Staff estimate widening and concreting the Harbour Drive path will cost $45,000, with the money coming from the 2014/15 minor works budget. Councillors suggest it can be done cheaper if the extra width is sand and gravel, like other paths about the city.

Resident Arch McTainsh believe council's low level ‘no cycling' signs are illegal and are required to be at least 2metres tall, but have been kept to a low level to protest residents' views.

The Harbour Drive path at 1.944m wide is deemed too narrow to share with cyclists when the recently contracted Matapihi Bridge path built as a shared cycle pedestrian track is about 1.5m wide. The shared Chapel Street causeway is 1.3m wide and 2.2m wide – making Harbour Drive the least restricted of all the paths.

If Harbour Drive remains as is, with the cyclists banned from using the foot path, then the council will have to designate cycle lanes on the road with associated and regulatory markings – which Arch says cannot be achieved without disrupting traffic and current parking habits.