''The start of a journey, not the end of a journey,'' was how Peter Amyes described a public meeting in Kakanui last night held to discuss the future of the Oamaru to Waianakarua coast road, threatened by sea erosion.
About 130 people turned out, an attendance Mr Amyes said was ''quite significant'' and a clear message to the Waitaki District Council people wanted the road retained.
Mr Amyes is chairman of a six-member community group set up by the council to investigate and provide suggestions and recommendations to the council about the future of the road.
Already, in 2010 and 2013, public submissions on two coastal road strategies had been overwhelmingly in support of keeping it open.''
Most people believe the coast road should stay open. There is no discussion about that.''
The discussion is around costs,'' he said.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said people were passionate about the issue - that was demonstrated by the number at last night's meeting.
''But there are always two sides to any story and as a council we have to take account of that.''
Mr Kircher said he came along to hear the views of people at the meeting.''
I would love to be able to retain all of the coastal road, but it is not as easy as that. We need all the information to make a judgement about what will happen going forward,'' he said.
People then had the chance to put their views and question Mr Kircher and councillors about the options for the road.
At present, the 24km road from the North Otago Golf Club to State Highway 1 at Waianakarua is eroding at an average half a metre a year, has about 600m needing emergency repairs, including just south of All Day Bay Rd where it had been reduced to a single lane. About 2.8km was 8m to 15m from the sea and would need work in the near future.
