They've written to the Roads Minister calling for government funding to fix the A226 as residents say diversions are causing damage to roads and the local economy.
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00:00 A collapsed cliff followed by a collapse in support.
00:03 Since this landslip on a section of the A226 last April, life in Swanscombe has never been the same.
00:11 I'm here on Galley Hill Road which has been closed for the last 8 months, the best part of a year.
00:17 There are now concerns it could be closed for another 12 months as well.
00:21 Some businesses say they won't survive.
00:24 One such business is NBC Dispatch Racing.
00:28 Already £3,000 in the red, they say the landslip has killed their previously successful business.
00:34 It's destroyed it, absolutely destroyed it.
00:37 We don't get no passing traffic, we don't get hardly anyone coming in now.
00:44 Last week we actually took about £120 a week.
00:50 It's just devastating us.
00:52 It's dire really, I don't know how long we can last, to be fair.
00:57 I took a loan out and that all money's gone.
01:01 You know, nothing, nothing.
01:03 It's just so close at the moment.
01:05 And while Kent County Council are putting forward several plans to get things moving,
01:10 some of the cracks in these interim measures are already starting to show.
01:14 So far we have local roads here that the diversion is causing absolute, destroying impacts to.
01:19 We have heavy goods vehicles going through roads that aren't meant for heavy goods vehicles.
01:22 Claire Pearce is one of the councillors in Dartford who have taken matters into their own hands,
01:27 writing to the roads minister to get funding needed to repair the road.
01:31 She says it's the only way to fix this problem.
01:35 The one thing, as I keep saying, we're calling for is certainty.
01:38 Once they have worked out exactly what's going on with the cliff service,
01:41 we need to know exactly who's going to be paying for it.
01:44 Budget cuts at the moment to KCC obviously mean they're not going to be paying for most of this.
01:48 So Dartford Labour have written to the roads minister and to the local MP Gareth Johnson
01:52 and are calling for them to come up with the extra funding needed to get this vital, vital road, local road open.
01:58 But Dartford MP Gareth Johnson is confident the government will help where they can.
02:03 I've warned the minister, the roads minister in advance that we will be coming to see him
02:07 and we'll be asking for some contributions to this.
02:10 This is a major thoroughfare.
02:12 This is something that's important, not just for Swanston and Greenhive,
02:15 it's important right across the whole of North Kent.
02:17 So therefore we need to get resolution to this.
02:20 Yet when we spoke to the roads minister, he was non-committal.
02:24 How will the government sort of commit to supporting those in that area and commit to reopening that road soon?
02:31 Well, listen, that's a matter fundamentally for Kent County Council,
02:34 but obviously the DFT will be working with them on an ongoing basis to see how we can help.
02:39 In what way?
02:40 Well, you'll have to ask Kent County Council.
02:43 They are the ones in charge of the local road network.
02:46 But clearly if they want to come to DFT and talk to me, then the door is open at all times.
02:50 Kent County Council say they hope work will begin on the cliff stabilisation next month.
02:55 But for some, this work is coming too little, too late.
02:59 Oliver Leader, The Saks, reporting for KMTV.