A community-led plan to reopen Haven St in Moeraki has come step closer, funding having been approved by the Waihemo Community Board for the first stage of investigating drainage.
About 400m of Haven St, which is the main road into Moeraki from State Highway 1, east of Davids St has been closed for about 18 months because of ongoing slips, which have affected the town since the 1800s.
Alternative access to the township is via Tenby St, which has raised safety concerns.
However, Moeraki residents and businesses want Haven St reopened, which has prompted an offer of help from local people to do the work under the supervision of an engineer.
The council has $100,000 set aside for Haven St work, $50,000 from district rates and $50,000 from the Moeraki community either in rates, donations or assistance.
The board this week decided to allocate $10,000 from a Moeraki land stabilisation fund towards investigating drainage works to prepare to reinstate the road.
Investigation findings should be ready by the end of next month.
A working group has been set up comprising the council and residents Bill Pile, Dave Ellis, Bruce Wheeler, David Higgins, Robbie Mitchell, Richard Hanrahan and Tony Hore to work with roading network engineer Graeme Butler on the project.
About 60 people were at a council meeting at the Te Runanga o Moeraki marae in December and strongly advocated reopening the street. Some offered to provide machinery and materials to help with the work.
Assets group manager Neil Jorgensen said the Moeraki community had made it clear the reinstatement of Haven St was a top priority.
