Retired Kingsbridge resident Lawrence Townsend is now in his seventh year of being flooded by sewage in his home.

Mr Townsend was first flooded in 2010, describing 2013-2014 as “bad” and South West Water had told him that work was being undertaken to fix the problem in 2016.

“I waited patiently for two years”, Mr Townsend said, “but it had no effect. They told me to expect floods between 2014 and the work in 2016, but the work was completed in November 2016, but I had another flood in July this year.

“South West Water seem to be using my house as a sewage overflow and they don’t appear to have a solution.”

When the flooding occurs, Mr Townsend has water and raw sewage flowing in the back of his house and out of the front for between 15 minutes and half-an-hour.?

Mr Townsend is now looking to sell his property as he and his partner are in need of a bungalow.

A South West Water representative said: “Investigations of the flooding in 2014 found a blockage in a manhole in West Alvington Hill which meant flows that should have gone into Ilbert Road were all going into the Mill Street sewer to which this property is connected.

“We had no further issue until this year when following heavy rain and significant flooding in Mill Street/Union Road flooding occurred again.

“When the sewer surcharges in heavy rain/high tide scenarios flow escapes from what is now an internal gully serving the property.

“Extensive CCTV surveys following the latest event found no structural issues but did reveal a build up of fat and salt restricting flows at the junction with Prince of Wales Road, which has now been cleared and this section put on routine maintenance.

“South West Water are currently involved in a multi-agency study of the flooding in Kingsbridge looking into solutions to alleviate flooding from our sewers, highway drains, culverted watercourses and tidal impacts of the estuary.”