At least a dozen tyres have succumbed to a stretch of road between Naseby and Danseys Pass in recent times. 

Maniototo Community Board member Duncan Helm highlighted the issue at the group’s monthly meeting on Thursday.

“I’ve had a couple of comments from different people about the number of flat tyres between Naseby and Danseys Pass area - about 14 tyres I’ve heard of.”

However, he agreed to an earlier comment by Central Otago District Councillor Stu Duncan, that the roads throughout the Maniototo were generally in good condition.

“As Stu said, the roads have been pretty good.”

Stu had earlier talked about a drive he did around the district, including the Styx where roadworks have recently been done.

“It looked really, really good,” Stu said.

“It’s quite interesting because I know the staff get a lot of grief about the roads, but . .  . there’s a lot of roads around New Zealand and ours are some of the best.”

Duncan said many of the roads in the area were “a dream to drive on”, comparing them to a road he was recently diverted onto near Rakaia, in Canterbury which had about 10kms of corrugations.

Stu said while driving around the Maniototo he also noticed some of the roads are used by dairy farmers for lanes, which posed the question as to whether those roads could be sold and the money spent on other infrastructure, such as bridges.