Kingsbridge businesses are now beset with sewage in the streets after chronic flooding

Flooding at the bottom of Kingsbridge has always been an issue, when high tides and heavy rain coincide, but it is happening more often and now sewage is washing down the streets. 

King of Prussia Landlady Sara Roberton explained the problems she has been having, for years at this point, at their pub on Bridge Street. 

this week it made it up to the bench seats - credit King of Prussia 

She said: “We’ve been here for 16 years and we’ve always had flooding when there’s been high tides and heavy rain, but five years ago it got back and for the past two or three years it's been exceptionally bad. 

“The water used to come up with the tide, especially if it was heavy rain too, but then it would go away. Nowadays it takes an hour and a half to go down, there must be some major blockages somewhere. 

“We had an investigation recently because a hole appeared behind the bar, where the water had rotted the wood away so plumbers came out, checked all our pipes and spent ages looking for the problem. 

December 2023 - credit King of Prussia  

“Turns out there was a blockage halfway across the road and when they sent their cameras down you could see the pipe was cracked and crumbling. Then, of course, everything catches on the rough inside surface and just builds up. 

“It's such an antiquated system, it's been worse since the development at Belle Hill went in, because of the extra surface water and sewage coming from there. The system just isn’t working. 

“We had one incident on 13 December, during Storm Keiron, where the water came up, flooded us, came up as far as going into the Post Office car park across the road, then it seeped away like normal and then it just came back again. I’ve never seen it do that before. We had to clean up twice that day.”

February 2024 - credit King of Prussia 

It doesn’t just happen at high tides now as well, Sara explained, which leads her to further suspect that there is a deeper problem with the system somewhere. 

“We’ve known that this area floods”, she said, “we knew it when we took over the place. We knew we would be dealing with flooding during high tides, especially when there had been heavy rain. But now it's happening at low tide too. I used to worry when the tide was above 5.2metres, now it’s flooding at 4.5m and I’m lying awake worrying anytime it's above 4m.”

Alongside the regular clean up after flooding and the loss of income due to having to close the pub, it is the stress that is really affecting Sara, despite the brave face she puts on. “I’ve lost count of the number of times we had water in the pub in the last year”, she said. “I don’t sleep when it rains. I’m constantly checking and rechecking the weather forecasts.

“I’m having to consider whether or not to put on events in the pub, is it worth it if we’re going to have to close? Last week it was lapping at the door of the old Barclays Bank building. There are people along here deciding if it's worth renewing leases when this keeps happening. 

“South West Water needs to find out the root cause and fix it and DCC needs to come round more than once a year and clear all the gullies. 

Sara and her partner Tim often have to close the road past the pub during deep flooding, not only to protect their businesses from the waves from cars passing through it, but also to protect the public. “When the water comes up like that it often lifts the manhole covers”, Sara explained, “you don’t want to hit an open manhole cover, it’ll write your car off.” 

February 2024 at low tide - credit King of Prussia 

She mentioned that she has occasionally received abuse from people for closing the road, despite doing it for health and safety reasons. “We get no support from Devon County Council for doing it either”, she said. 

As well as the worsening flooding situation, there are now problems with sewage being discharged into the streets. “I’m paying SWW their rates to have the sewage taken away, but I’m still having to clear it up from outside the pub”, Sarah said. 

“I’m using gallons of our water to clean up every time, plus bleach and disinfectant, which isn’t good for the environment. It’s tempting to get all the businesses at the bottom of town to stop paying their water rates until it's sorted. They can’t cut us all off.”

Wayne Grills, owner of Pizza Planet on Mill Street, said: “For more than a decade we have waited for South West Water, The Environment Agency and Devon County Council to take ownership of the multiple issues with sewers, waterways and surface water drainage. 

“Issues related to tidal are obviously an issue that can be predicted and properties can protect themselves with plenty of warning. What we are seeing now is a near permanent hydraulic overload of the combined network. 

“My knowledge of the water systems within Kingsbridge comes from both my time on the town council and as a business owner on Mill Street, I get that the issues require a multi-pronged approach but enough is enough. It’s time for key stakeholders to get around a table, draw up a plan and respect both the Water Industry Act of 1991 and the Environmental Protection Act of 1990.

“If it really is about water.”

February 2024 - credit King of Prussia 

Martin Johnson, town clerk to Kingsbridge Town Council said: “So we have had regular recent incidents of flooding in the lower town centre and sewage discharge from surface water drains in Bridge Street, Mill Street, Lime Grove and Quay Car Park which occur when we have very high tides (a tidal surge) or high rainfall (surface water flooding).

“Devon County Council Flood Risk team and the Environment Agency are aware of the South Hams Society report and we are in open communication with South West Water which is trying hard to discover what is causing the sewage discharge. 

“It’s frustrating and downright unhealthy as people are trying to go about their daily business and shops are trying to make a living.

“I wish we could report that it’s going to be solved tomorrow but we can’t. The Kingsbridge Integrated Urban Drainage Management and Flood Analysis report – in layman’s terms ‘How Kingsbridge floods’ - is available on the Town Council’s website.”

Julian Brazil - leader of SHDC 

Julian Brazil, leader of South Hams District Council, said: “I really feel for Sara and Tim, they’ve been so stoic and incredibly patient. I dread to think what they go through every time. 

“There are a number of pertinent factors relating to the flooding problems in Kingsbridge, one of which being our planning rules and regulations not being fit for purpose. 

“The current rules are that if a planned development bores a hole into the sewer system that is smaller than the current sewer, then we cannot object to it. Despite the fact that we all know that the current system can’t cope with that increase, we can’t do anything. 

“The experts will tell us that the attenuation and soakaways are enough, so we can’t refuse those applications. Even though common sense tells you that it can’t cope and adding more housing isn’t going to help. We have K5 on West Alvington Hill coming soon, and another development planned at Redford Way.

“It is patently unacceptable. 

“Every time there is a new house built, yes we get a little bit of extra council tax but South West Water gets £1,000/year per house in water rates. They’re coining it in in Kingsbridge and they’re failing to improve our system. 

“It's Dickensian to have sewage running down the streets in the 21st Century. 

“The amount SWW pays to their shareholders and executives and the fact that OFWAT has singly failed to force investment in the improvement of the whole system is criminal. It’s proof, as it is across the country, that the privatisation of the water companies has failed. It might have been a good idea at the time but it has failed. 

“Kingsbridge Town Council, especially Cllr Barrie Fishman, and Cllr Keith Wingate before him, have been very proactive to try and tackle the situation, but Kingsbridge has been let down by the statutory bodies. 

“Some blame rests on us as the County Council and the District Council, but we’re having to work within rules, even when we know it doesn’t work.”

South Hams Society has sent an open letter to South West Water Services Ltd, Kingsbridge Town Council, Kingsbridge Town Ward Members, Devon County Council, The Leader of South Hams District Council, The Environment Agency and Natural England. (You can view the letter in full here - it has lots of information and statistics).  

The letter states: “Kingsbridge town has been inflicted by tidal, fluvial/urban drainage and foul sewage flooding since late October 2023.

“Foul sewage water pollution of the public roads of Bridge Street, Mill Street and main town car park are a health hazard that is somewhat alarmingly not recognised by the public at large (I think this is now changing). It is unacceptable that this is occurring on the scale that it is, if at all.

“Foul sewage water discharges and fluvial/urban drainage floods in the town tend to go hand in hand. Tidal flood events are very occasionally expected when the highest spring tides coincide with the right weather conditions but the flood waters do tend to be cleaner.

“Flooding has reached a ridiculous frequency not seen before. The biggest surface water body influencing fluvial and urban drainage flooding is the Dodbrooke (Kingsbridge North River) and its level is recorded online.”

A spokesperson for South West Water said: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience this intermittent flooding is causing in Kingsbridge. The wet weather has placed extra pressure on our network and we would like to reassure local residents that we are doing all we can to get to the bottom of the issue.

“We are using tankers to reduce any impact while we investigate why this has happened. We will take urgent action to prevent future problems and will keep local residents and stakeholders up-to-date.”

We contacted Anthony Mangnall MP to make a comment, and he said: “The flooding in Kingsbridge is hugely frustrating. I have been speaking to South West Water encouraging them to provide all the support necessary to provide the interim support for businesses and residents and provide a long term solution to our local infrastructure.” 

We also contacted Devon County Council and the Environment Agency but neither had responded by the time of going to press - we will update this story as and when we can.