Ms Speight deflected criticism, saying the issue was with those responsible for the stock.
“This really does need to be an issue that the landowners and occupiers are held to account for because you and us are bearing the impact of that on the roading network,” she said. “We don't have this problem anywhere else in our network anywhere in the country. There is a serious issue here and we're absolutely looking at options.
“We're even going to explore whether we just impound all the stock and take them down to yards at Wairoa . . . but again there's a cost to that,” Ms Speight said.
The time contractors spent attending call-outs was time they were not working on the region's roads, she said.
“You should be as cross as we are about the impact that's having on safety and on the money available to spend on your network.”
An update in the committee report said NZTA continued to be concerned about reports of wandering stock on State Highway 35 in the area covered by Gisborne District Council.
There were 44 stock call-outs in July, 54 in August, 70 in September and 41 in October. This compared with the Eastern Bay of Plenty section of SH35 which recorded zero, two, two, and zero call-outs across the same period.
NZTA had undertaken a drive-through of “problematic parts of the corridor” and had initiated discussions with council officers about whether it was possible to look at fencing orders.
Cr Burdett told The Gisborne Herald that Downer relied on communication about stray stock from the public, and there was much of the road which didn't have phone reception.
This compared to the council which had “a long period of experience” and “people in the right places”, Cr Burdett said. “They were well trained and did a bloody good job.
In the meeting, Cr Burdett said he had driven past an accident caused by a car hitting stock in October. There needed to be “action” and “a lot better performance” than present.
“In terms of what's happening, it's just constant and yet there are no abatement notices served on those properties that have got no fences. The whole thing wants a good look at and some action taken.”
Ms Speight said the responsibility for fencing did not sit with NZTA, and the issue was not only about fences, as stock was being grazed on the side of the road, and on riverbeds.
Cr Pat Seymour said impounding stock was an “excellent idea”.
“The only way people learn is if their animals are impounded,” she said.
Mayor Rehette Stoltz said there had been work on a bylaw in the past.
“We need to go out hard with an advocating, education, awareness campaign of the dangers because at the end of the day, the responsibility sits with those owners, and we need to make them aware of it.”
Cr Kerry Worsnop said the stock owners and landowners were often not the same people.
“Because of that it's hugely complicated . . . you might have stock grazing an area where the actual landowner hasn't been resident for 80 years. So the complexity of trying to tie a fence to the person who has stock roaming around is quite tricky.”
Where it was straight-forward, she agreed they should “crack the whip”.
“But particularly up the Coast, you've got a whole mess of dynamics that are not typical in the rest of New Zealand and that's partly why it's so difficult to enforce.”
A representative of Police at the meeting said the responsibility to keep stock off the road “ultimately” remained with stock owners.
Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swan said they would go back through the stock control bylaw, which was approved in 2019, and have further talks with NZTA.
