Public pressure to open the gates at the harbour to allow around-the-clock access to the small beach beside Portside Restaurant & Bar in Waterfront Rd - and the breakwater - spurred the Waitaki District Council to unlock the gates on September 16 last year.
Since then, growing crowds of tourists flocking to the breakwater to watch penguins come ashore at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony have caused the council to cite health and safety concerns in the area and consider restricting night access again.
The man who led the push to open the gates, Jim Caldwell, of Oamaru, asked the council’s assets committee this week to urge the council to find a way to ensure continued access to the beach.
"That’s a precious area that should be open as long as possible to the public," he said.
Council property manager Renee Julius told councillors at the meeting the beach was part of the breakwater.
"It’s all fee simple [freehold]," she said. "It’s not public land."
Mr Kircher said the council had ‘‘good grounds on the public safety side of things’’ to restrict access to the area at night.
He said the sand had built up in the area since the historic breakwater was built and if it were not there the beach would not be there.
The council will consider the assets committee’s recommendation to close the breakwater area during the hours of darkness this month.
