'A forgotten area' - Mount Maunganui pizzeria forced to close after roads shut down

A Mount Maunganui pizzeria is closing its doors after the area became "desolate" due to road closures.

Half of Adams Avenue was closed to traffic in late July when renewed movement was detected at the site of January's deadly landslide.

Rustica Pizzeria owner Michele Delaini told Morning Report he had lost $30,000 in the past five months as roads remained shut.

He said he had been waiting for the situation to get better, but he had now "lost confidence" the Tauranga City Council could make the area fit for tourism by summer.

"It's very desolate because we still have the same fencing that we had just after the original landslide and there is still the sand in the parking lot of the hot pools.

"It looks like a forgotten area."

Delaini said the decision to close the road again in July took away "even like the very little business that we had" since the landslide.

He said foot traffic had suffered, even if pedestrians were allowed to walk past.

But the bigger problem was delivery drivers not being able to get to the takeaway shop, he said, as road closures had taken away parking from the area.

Delaini told Morning Report a pause in paying rates would relieve some of the burden, but that council had turned the idea down.

He planned to close Rustica until someone else could take over the lease, but he worried this would be difficult.

"Nobody has the safety and the peace of mind that it's going to be like a proper trading this summer."

He said he would consider reopening if the council gave assurances that business could resume normally this summer.

But he added he was "lucky" as he had other businesses to fall back on, while some of his neighbours only had the one.

"They're actually paying from their own pocket. and it's actually a very, very hard situation."

Tauranga City Council has been approached for comment.