School children get a helping hand after Central Hawke's Bay road closure

A slip on Kairakau Rd is annoying residents - but not the local school children. Photo / Kerry Clare

School children on the "wrong side" of a slip that has closed Kairakau Rd in Central Hawke's Bay have been provided with a novel alternative to avoid what could be a long detour for their school bus.

The rural road, which leads to Kairakau and Mangakuri beach settlements, is closed at the 7.1km mark after last week's deluge of rain caused significant road movement.

Elsthorpe School principal Sandy Crawford says the CHB District Council and a farmer whose land borders the slip quickly solved the issue of how to get the children to school.

"There is now a walking path over the farmer's land, which the council has fenced and mown. It's on the safe side of the slip, at quite a distance from the actual land movement. Parents take their children to a collection point and they are escorted over the path by council contractors and delivered to the school bus.

"The reverse happens in the afternoon, where the bus driver delivers the children to the staff who escort them over the path to their parents.

"All work on the road is stopped for half an hour either side of the children's drop-off and pickup. The council and the landowner have worked very well together to come up with a good solution and the families are very happy with it."

For those not eligible for a trip on the school bus, signed detours are in place through Mangakuri Rd, Clareinch Rd, Pourerere Rd and River Rd, but some residents of the small coastal communities are concerned the increased traffic is putting pressure on roads not designed for high volumes of traffic.

One resident, who does not wish to be named, said "it is quite scary with stock trucks going like the clappers and using the whole road, and in the weekends the town people visiting the beaches have no idea how to drive on gravel roads.

"It takes us an extra 30 minutes to get to Hastings.

"No one is happy. Some leave their cars at the top of Kairakau hill and get rides, but one car got broken into this week."

CHB District Council chief executive Monique Davidson said "unfortunately, we had no way of predicting that a slip of this significance would occur.

"Council was aware that maintenance of this section of road was required, and has been sealing all known cracks to ensure waterproofing as a temporary measure with major repair works scheduled to take place this summer.

"Current investigations indicate that the severity of the slip and required rebuild may have occurred even if the planned repair works had been already made."

Davidson says building a new, temporary lane will take some time.

"We understand that the community may feel frustrated and I want to assure you that our teams are treating this as a priority."