Road of Remembrance
The road was closed at the end of January 2024 after a landslip brought trees down. Further landslips on the embankment have followed.
Kent County Council (KCC), as the highway authority, is continuing to work in this area and has extended the road closure order (temporary traffic regulation order - TTRO) until the end of August 2025. This will enable the remaining surveys, design work and works to stabilise the embankment to be carried out. The closure date is not an indication of when the road will re-open as KCC has stated that it will re-open the road once it is safe to do so.
KCC has apologised for the inconvenience caused for residents and businesses in Folkestone.
Why are the landslips happening?
There appears to be no single cause for the landslips. Landslips have occurred in the past, particularly along The Leas, and shallow depth landslips happen quite often.
The number taking place during February and March may be the result of a combination of several reasons:
- Rainfall during February was very high
- The ground - known as the Folkestone Formation - is a combination of medium to coarse grained sand with weakly cemented sandstones. This makes it prone to erosion and being unstable
- The weight of trees during high winds may be weakening the stability of the cliff
What the district council has done
Vegetation has been cleared and tree height reduced on land owned by the council at the top of the Road of Remembrance. All of the litter on the area of land in council ownership has also been cleared.
A LIDAR survey for land from the harbour and along the Road of Remembrance was commissioned - this is a survey that involves using a drone equipped with data collection technology, enabling a detailed map of the ground conditions to be created.
It has now been completed and the data will be considered alongside information being gathered from the ground by geotechnical consultants who are completing a walkover survey.
Other landslips
9 March – vegetation collapse at area in The Riviera, Sandgate on private land.
3 March – multiple behind Sunny Sands beach, bringing a tree down onto the promenade.
2 March – area below Madeira Walk, above the coastal park.
26 February – bottom of the Road of Remembrance, vegetation and debris brought down behind businesses.
27 January – Road of Remembrance. Trees blocked road. Two further smaller slips during February.
November 2023 – Cow Path at the coastal park.
Page updated: 21 October 2024