A small coastal community will demand answers from Manukau City Council about progress on a slip which has disrupted their lives for two weeks.
The slip has closed the road through Kawakawa Bay southeast of Auckland.
Frustrated residents were due to meet the council on Wednesday night for an update on fixing the slip but the council’s economic director Rick Walden said before the road could be reopened, geotechnical advisers would have to confirm the slip had stabilised.
“The council will also be talking about the long-term options for the road into Kawakawa Bay,” Mr Walden told The New Zealand Herald.
Some residents were taking an hour and a half detour to get round the slip. Others were parking a second car on the other side of the slip, driving to the slip and walking over the slip before driving to work.
Children had also been attending other schools, some residents had moved and others were staying with friends or in motels.
The community wants help from the authorities as it struggles to deal with the slip and will meet the council tonight, one resident promising “standing room only and fireworks”.
The residents particularly want to know when the council plans were to reopen the road, saying the council engineers do not seem to know what to do.
Meanwhile, in nearby Bucklands Beach on the Auckland side of Kawakawa Bay, more cliff-face cracks have prompted Manukau City Council to renew a warning to stay away because of the danger.
The landslide has led to several houses, including the million-dollar home of former Manukau mayor Sir Barry Curtis, being condemned.
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