The State Highway 2 end of Herepuru Road was closed on Tuesday morning until further notice following a slip that occurred overnight.

Whakatāne District Council notified Herepuru Road residents on Tuesday afternoon that geotechnical engineers had assessed the site.

Crews will carry out scaling works to remove unstable material from the slip face before the area is reassessed.

The section of road will remain closed while this work is undertaken to ensure the safety of both road users and crews working on site.

Slips of the steep bluff above Herepuru Road has long been the cause of road closures.

A major slip on February 5 closed the bluff section of the road to all traffic for three weeks and it was not opened to heavy traffic until March 10.

A gate was installed to allow the road to be closed later that month as a precautionary measure to keep road users safe from further slips.

Two slips, caused by heavy rain occurred on the road shortly after this, while the road was closed.