A last-minute burst of interest has boosted to 28 the number of submissions received on the Waitaki District Council's draft legal highs sale policy.
Last week, the council was worried only 10 had been received, two days before public consultation ended on Friday, but another 17 arrived before then and a further one after submissions had closed.
At last week's council meeting, Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher and other councillors expressed disappointment at the lack of public reaction to its draft policy.
Mr Kircher suggested if there was not enough interest the council could consider another round of public consultation but staff were nervous about the legality of that.
He was happier with the number this week and said the council would ''need to look through them'' before deciding if it needed to reopen the consultation process.
While submissions were still being analysed, he believed ''the vast majority'' were in support of the council's policy.
Many also wanted a complete ban on the sale of legal highs, but that was not legal and neither could the council make it so difficult it was impossible to establish outlets.
Under the Waitaki council's draft, outlets will be restricted to a small area in central Oamaru and not allowed in any of the district's towns.
