Grant Abrams, of Old Bones Lodge in Beach Rd, said the Waitaki District Council has since apologised for not informing them the road would continue to be blocked off during the busy summer months.
"I just think they have been lacking severely in the communication aspect.
"We were aware it was going on — we just didn’t know they were going to put a fence and gates in," Mr Abrams said.
The locked gates installation early in November came at the conclusion of a three-month cleanup by council of two historic fly-tipping dump sites on Beach Rd near the Awamoa Rd junction.
This was under Project Reclaim, a $15 million environmental cleanup of vulnerable coastal dump sites at Hampden and Beach Rd.
The Beach Rd sites extended further under the road from the sea front than expected — despite test drilling.
Three weeks ago, the council issued a statement which said the road would not reopen for now.
It came after councillors had been given a private on-site briefing a few days before.
"We woke up with the sound of a pile driver being put into the ground and we didn’t know anything about it," Mr Abrams said this week.
"I rang the council and said my piece. We got an apology."
The council last week put off a decision to permanently close Beach Rd, pending full public consultation via the 2025-34 long-term plan from January.
Mr Abrams said the lodge was now at the end of a cul-de-sac which meant it was much quieter.
The road closure from August had caused some confusion for clients but this had since moderated.
"It hasn’t too adversely affected us because most people have booked in."
Council staff told elected officials last week reinstating Beach Rd was "never included" under Project Reclaim. District assets manager Joshua Rendell told councillors they had hoped enough money would be left in the $15m budget but this did not eventuate.
In a letter to the Oamaru Mail this week, All Day Bay resident Shane Melton questioned the council’s handling of the project.
"Whose planning was it that meant this highly visited road would not be accessible during the late spring and summer months?" he asked.
The way the road closure had unfolded had made the council appear "incompetent".
"Who starts a hole, without the resources or budget to reinstate the roads back to how they were?"
Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher said on Friday it was never going to be clear cut and suggested Mr Melton was being simplistic given the type of project.
"It’s absolutely disappointing it’s got to this, that there was quite so much rubbish in there (but) it’s like any ground breaking project, you never know quite what was in there."
Mr Kircher also refuted the project had been used by the council to orchestrate the permanent closure of the road.
"No, it’s an important road, and there was always the possibility the result might be that it needed to be closed — but we haven’t made any decision yet."
At the same time the council had to be strategic about it.
"The emotional answer is we reopen it. But the other side is, how much will it cost?"
