The Mayor of Kingsbridge and the Leader of Devon County Council are lambasting South West Water over what they see as inaction over the broken culvert at the bottom of Fore Street.

Mayor Julia Wingate says: “It is a vital historical part of our town.

“Beneath the tarmac lies a tangle of utilities and services: sewage pipes, surface water drains, BT communication cables, gas, and mains supplies.

“All of these need to be identified and mapped so the workforce knows exactly where they can, and more importantly where they absolutely cannot, dig.

Consulting with so many different companies has added to the complexity of the repair along with surveying using ground penetrating radar scans and inspections through the existing manholes across the whole area.

“The long wait of some five or so weeks has allowed the contractor to fully understand the route of the culvert and how the other pipes and cables affect its location,

“I just wish that South West Water could be more forthcoming with their information and actually be part of the solution to this tricky repair “

Julia then describes some of the history of that part of town:

“Camera footage through the culvert has shown us several old archways and bridges.

“Could one of these be the original ‘Kings Bridge’?

“With three different freshwater streams heading into the top of the estuary here, you can imagine there would have been several bridges, and causeways to cross the streams years ago. “The names of the existing streets today do give us an indication of the history.

“We have Mill St with its leat, Bridge Street and Duke Street was previously known as Duck Street.”

“The minor diversion to Fore Street will remain open so access to our amazing independent shops and businesses is really easy and shopping in Fore street is calmer as the road is no longer a rat run open to noisy HGV’s.

Devon County Council Leader Cllr Julian Brazil said: “The main concern is around Southwest Water and their assets and infrastructure you know sewage pipes etc and and they've been quite frankly uncooperative.

“They talk a good game but actually when it comes to it, all they're interested in is saying ‘it's nothing to do with them’ and if you do anything wrong, you know they say:

“Our assets are fine at the moment and if you break them, that's your responsibility.’

“They're an absolute disgrace.”

Cllr Brazil also pointed to other water-related issues which he says haven’t been resolved:

“We've got so we've got raw sewage coming up in Mill Street.

We've got we've got sewage tanks manning the Quay car park, all South West Water’s responsibility, but they just sort of go on as if it's nothing to do with them.

All they're interested in is is share prices, dividends and executive pay.

”Well, lock them up.

‘It's criminal what they're doing. Absolutely criminal.

“I've already I've previously said that perhaps people should stop paying their water rates.”

The road is likely to remain closed for several more weeks.