Folkestone road road to stay shut all year after eighth landslide

The Road of Remembrance is the main road linking the town to the seaside, residents say the diversion route is leading to congestion and disruption.

Transcript

00:00 This is the aftermath of two landslips which happened along Folkestone Beach in January.

00:06 Months on, the road is still shut and now Kent County Councils announced it won't be

00:11 reopened this year.

00:13 The Road of Remembrance links the town centre and seafront and it's two of eight landslips

00:19 to hit the coastal town just this year.

00:22 Well here on the Road of Remembrance it's fair to say this landslip certainly will be

00:26 remembered by the community for a very long time.

00:29 Police say especially now the reopening of the road has been pushed back and they say

00:33 they don't know how they can put up with a diversion route until next year.

00:37 If you're coming from the other side of town, Sandgate Highway, you've got to do a massive

00:44 detour and one it's quite inconvenient and two it must really annoy the people that live

00:51 on the route that aren't used to having all the traffic.

00:56 And how does it feel to hear that it's not going to be reopening this year?

00:59 Well it seems rather long time, it's been shut for about three or four months now.

01:03 They want to pull their finger out don't they?

01:07 Quicker they get it sorted the better but because I'm in this I don't go up it anymore

01:14 anyway but when I was young and fit and I could run up that road once upon a time and

01:22 run down the thing.

01:24 It has to be safe for everybody which is the only reason they're keeping it shut.

01:27 They wouldn't keep it shut for any other reason that it's not structurally safe for people

01:31 to use.

01:32 So from a tourist perspective how did you find the signage and everything for the diversion

01:37 route?

01:38 We didn't, we guessed.

01:40 Normally we would come down the road down to the harbour but this time we had to guess

01:45 where to go, crossed over the roundabout and then thought we'll try down the alleyway.

01:50 Fireworks had started to be carried out with hopes the road might reopen in time for summer

01:56 but now works have been halted as further investigations need to be done to assess the

02:01 safety.

02:02 While residents worry about the road remaining closed throughout summer and the rest of this

02:06 year, KCC says the works are essential to preventing future landslips and ensuring the

02:12 safety of road users.

02:14 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Folkestone.