Sections of the road are threatened or have been cut by sea erosion and the council has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep it open. One section has been closed and replaced by upgrading Gardners Rd from Beach Rd to Thousand Acre Rd; another section near All Day Bay has been reduced to one lane.
An earlier policy, under which sections of the road cut by erosion would be closed, was never approved by the council because of opposition. Another draft coastal roads strategy was produced by the council, went through public consultation and came up for approval at Tuesday's committee of the whole meeting.
Councillors shied away from giving it full approval, but took a step to doing so.
During consultation, it was suggested that a community group could become involved in maintenance, including some residents along the road helping with work. Initially, Cr Kevin Malcolm moved that the council delay approving the strategy and ask for interest from community groups. The vote was tied five-all.
He was not happy with the draft put forward on Tuesday, calling for a community group to be put in place before committing to the strategy, which he believed did not do enough to protect the road.
A delay would ''not be of great consequence'', he said.
However, committee chairman Cr Jim Hopkins said time and energy had been spent by the previous council developing a strategy, which was postponed.
The committee recommended the council request expressions of interest from a community group or groups. That was passed unanimously.
Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton said the council had been talking about the coastal road and erosion for 12 years he had been a councillor, and before that a community board member.
He saw flexibility in the policy and also did not see any delay of being of great consequence.
