Minister visits site of 'never-ending road block'

Minister for Future Roads Lilian Greenwood (centre) visited the site of the 2023 landslide in Kent

A government minister has visited the site of a landslip in Kent which is awaiting repair 17 months after it happened.

Minister for Future Roads Lilian Greenwood was shown the large section of the A226 Galley Hill Road, in Swanscombe, which collapsed on 10 April 2023.

The road has remained closed since, while an investigation into the cause and possible solutions has been carried out.

Neil Baker, the Kent County Council (KCC) cabinet member for transport and highways, said: "Reinstating Galley Hill Road is a complex issue and there aren’t any quick fixes, but the minister’s visit is reassuring that this issue is being taken seriously by government."

Local resident Judith Collins said since the collapse the area had been "one long never-ending road block".

She said: "Over the weekend we had another truck got stuck. It was there for a couple of hours, because the roads aren't made for those trucks.

"We're still going to be looking at this, I would say, for at least another 12 months."

The landslide forced the closure of a nearby main road

KCC, the highways authority responsible for the site, said it was looking into ways the cliff could be reinstated, and would be asking the government to help fund that.

Cllr Baker said: "We look forward to continuing conversations with them.”

Jim Dickson, the Labour MP for Dartford, was among those who met the minister.

He told BBC Radio Kent that the investigation into the landslip is reaching its conclusion "so we should know in the next few weeks exactly what went wrong".

He added: "At that point you can start to look at solutions and funding packages, and I'm very impatient for us to get to that point."