Editorial: Dispute unfair on city

Eat Streat's retractable awnings. Photo / File

Saturday's weather was the most annoying I can remember in Rotorua.

I don't mind the cold (well, sort of) and I don't mind rain (if I know it's coming) but when you experience four seasons in one day, it's hard to make plans.

On Saturday we had warm sunshine, cold blustery wind, rain, hail - all rotating in that order roughly every half an hour.

If you were planning to step out for a bite to eat, you would have probably given it a miss - especially if you were heading to Eat Streat given the uncertainty of having a roof over your head.

Thankfully, the debacle of the awnings being locked open was resolved on Saturday. For 10 days, the businesses on Eat Streat had to bear the brunt of a contractual dispute that saw the remotes for the retractable awnings confiscated because someone (not any of the restaurants) hadn't paid the bill.

The remotes for all but one of the 12 awnings were taken by Sydney-based company GS World, which said it would give them back when it was paid for its work.

GS World was engaged by Eat Streat contractor Watts & Hughes Construction to install the awnings and said it took the remotes because Watts & Hughes had failed to pay. Watts & Hughes said there were issues that needed to be rectified before payment was made.

The dispute was unprofessionally handled and unfairly affected the Eat Streat businesses. Some were considering legal action for loss of business as they have had to turn away customers because they were unable to seat them under cover.

With summer just around the corner, it's high time the businesses of Eat Streat enjoyed some lucrative business without contractual disputes plaguing their bottom lines.

We, as ratepayers who have funded the Eat Streat project, also deserve better.