Collapsed wall brings misery to Kent village

Local Democracy Reporter Ollie Leader went down to Leeds to speak to residents about the traffic chaos they're facing.

Transcript

00:00Gridlock along an already busy rat run cut through for motorists.

00:07All the result of a wall believed to be hundreds of years old

00:12collapsing along a narrow B road running through Leeds.

00:18Which villagers believe happened when it was hit by a lorry more than a month ago.

00:24It gives worse air every day, it's like a race track through here.

00:28We have arctics coming through here which shouldn't come through here.

00:31Unless of course it's for the farm up the road there in which case they've got right of access.

00:35But other than that everyone uses the cut through.

00:38It's just a nightmare.

00:40Quite often it will be bumber to bumber both ways whether these lights are here or not.

00:45You can see just how much traffic is really building up along Lower Street

00:50because of these traffic lights.

00:52They are costing the council £500 a day to operate.

00:57And while they are planning to recoup that from the homeowner or the insurance company covering the wall.

01:04It is a difficult situation for a village already beset by HVGs and lorries that they say aren't suitable for the roads here.

01:15I've had several of my cars actually smashed by vehicles coming down.

01:21Fortunately some have stopped and some haven't.

01:23So it's just an ongoing cost.

01:25And unfortunately now it's just impossible to actually park a car outside your own property.

01:30And with the amount of traffic we can't even have the windows open.

01:35Kent County Council say the temporary road closure is required to safely remove debris and make the wall secure.

01:45And once this is complete the road will reopen to the public while full repairs to the wall will take place off the highway.

01:57Temporary traffic lights in Leeds are a real bane of my life as well as everybody else's life.

02:02Because of course that is one of the roads that I use very regularly.

02:06HGVs are forced to go through there because there is no other way around at the moment.

02:11It's really unfortunate when something like this happens.

02:14But look viewers can rest assured that my highways department are on it.

02:17They are fixing the problem as quickly as possible and we really hope to resume normal service as soon as possible.

02:23I certainly hope so.

02:24It's been a difficult few weeks in the village.

02:28For those living here the green light for these repairs cannot come soon enough.

02:35Olly Lieder in Leeds.