Coastal erosion is eating away at a tourist road in North Canterbury, leaving the council with a tough decision - keep up the costly repair costs or close it.
Councillors discussed the future of slip-prone Nape Nape Road at Blythe River, south of Hurunui River and about 40km north of Amberley, at the Hurunui District Council meeting on Tuesday.
Nape Nape Road has been hit by slips in heavy rain and coastal erosion, making it increasingly costly to repair over the last five years, council chief operations officer Daniel Harris said.
The road provided access to several properties, to the beach and the Department of Conservation land, and it was a popular tourist spot.
Council spent $53,258 in 2022 to repair Nape Nape Road road after extensive slips, rockfall and areas where high tides had claimed the road, Mr Harris said.
After more storms in January, the council closed the road, effectively stopping maintenance work.
However, landowners in August asked the council to return to maintaining the road so it could reopened.
The group said restoring the road to a four-wheel-drive access standard would be acceptable.
During the meeting, councillors voted to restore access to the road ‘‘as inexpensively as possible’’ for the next six months.
It was suggested the landowners be asked to maintain the road.
‘‘It gives us time to think about what we can do and what role the landowners have to play,’’ Councillor Robbie Bruerton said.
The growing threat of erosion and heavy rain events for coastal roads is a growing problem for councils.
Hurunui District Council has been forced to make decisions about other coastal roads and communities in the past few months, including Claverley Road, north of Cheviot, and the Amberley Beach Golf Club’s access on Golf Links Road.
The issue has prompted councillors to ask for a strategy to be developed for inclusion in next year’s 2024-34 Long-Term Plan.
‘‘This is quite a big decision for us because it is the first time we have had to do it,’’ Deputy Mayor Vince Daly said during the meeting.
Councillor Gary Jackson moved two motions: One calling for access to be restored Nape Nape Road over the summer and the second to develop ‘‘a high-level framework’’ for making decisions around coastal erosion.
He called for council staff to provide information on other roads which were vulnerable to coastal erosion and climate change.
‘‘If there is going to be a budget blowout, we need to know about it because we need to make a decision on whether to rate for it.’’
Two landowners attended Tuesday’s council meeting but declined to comment to Local Democracy Reporting.
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
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