A coastal road which once turned into a children's playground over summer now poses a danger, Te Awanga residents say.
Locals of the beachside suburb are concerned about a new "sharp" seal used to resurface the residential Gordon Rd.
The wide, quiet road was the perfect place for generations of families to come together during summer, a place where children skateboard, cycle, or turn into it a touch pitch, and a thoroughfare for families to wander down to the beach.
This may no longer be possible, after new seal laid at the beginning of the month made "an absolute [mess] of the road", resident Derek Lowe said.
"It's sharp, you cannot walk across the road in bare feet and my concern is for all the kids and grandchildren that we have over the Christmas period, it is dangerous.
"It's a concern to the whole street, everybody's unhappy."
In previous years, the street was where two of Mr Lowe's sons, Karl and Jonah, learnt to play rugby. Both have since played for the Magpies, with Karl also appearing for the Hurricanes and Maori All Blacks, and Jonah playing for the provincial Barbarians during the Lions tour.
The new seal's sharp texture raised concern that children could get severely hurt if they fell over while playing, or if they fell off their bike, scooter, or skateboard.
"You've only got to get one kid to put the wrong brake on, go over the handlebars and they're history."
Residents thought the roading contractors had accidentally used the wrong seal, but said their complaints had not been listened to by the Hastings District Council.
"We pay rates to have a road for us to walk on and do things on. I want them to come back and re-tar it and just put fine stones they put on it like they've done before."
A district council spokeswoman said the new bitumen on the road was the same as had been used for road sealing over the last 10 years.
"The seal is made of two sizes of chip – both just 1mm larger than what is used on some other roads across the area," she said.
"It is most likely that the new chip seal is noticeable as it is yet to bed in. Over the summer the seal will settle down.
"Given this is new seal, and the old seal had become very slick with age – it is not surprising that people are finding it very different."
She said the size of the chip is decided upon depending on things like the existing surface, traffic volume and cost.