• 10 months ago
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.
Transcript
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.

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