''A level playing field on information'', is how Peter Amyes, chairman of a community group looking at keeping the coastal road between Oamaru and Waianakarua open, describes a planned meeting with the Waitaki District Council.
The group was established by the council in response to opposition to a draft coastal roads strategy which proposed closing some portions of the popular route when they were affected by marine erosion and upgrading other roads leading inland as bypasses.
The group held a public meeting at Kakanui on February 26 to outline issues, the 130 people there giving a unanimous mandate to investigate how to keep the road open.
Now the group has a workshop with Waitaki councillors and senior staff on April 16 to discuss that.
''It's an opportunity for us to bring councillors and staff up to speed,'' Mr Amyes said late this week.
He would make a presentation based on and updating the presentation he made to the public meeting.
Issues were what needed to be done to secure the road for 25 years, what that could cost and ways costs could be minimised.
Mr Amyes said council figures showed keeping the road open would cost less than upgrading the two inland roads.
The public meeting came up with ideas to reduce costs, ranging from land owners donating land to move the road in return for some form of assistance from the council such as rates relief, finding a nearby source of rock for protection, fundraising to help pay and volunteering time to help with the work.
One source of stones for gabion baskets was at the Waianakarua River mouth where the boulder bank was blocking the outlet while rock could come from a quarry in Waianakarua Rd.
Concrete tetrapods, using moulds at Oamaru Harbour, could be bought by people who donated them back for protection of vulnerable sections of the road.
People could make individual contributions towards fixing half a metre or metre of the road, subsidised by the council or Government.
In the meantime, Mr Amyes is trying to discuss proposals with the New Zealand Transport Agency, including what subsidies might be available and how to qualify for them.
