Devon County Council (DCC) received a string of complaints from a Dartmouth resident who warned that a key road into town was unstable three months before it collapsed.

Both the road and an eight metre-high section of wall gave way just months later in February 2024, forcing the closure of Warfleet Road and causing disruption to traffic as well anger in the community.

DCC has claimed that it cannot repair the wall as it is the responsibility of a private landowner.

But this paper has now obtained evidence that local resident Lee Rogers complained repeatedly to DCC engineers about his concerns at least two months before the collapse.

On 4 December 2023, DCC sent a confirmation that his warnings were “being dealt with as a complaint”, and a subsequent site inspection by a DCC officer, completed on 31 January 2024, concluded that the retaining wall was “not giving way” and that the road was sinking “because of an old utility trench”.

Mr Rogers, who runs a rigging services company in Dartmouth, said: “I told them I didn’t care what what was causing it. The road was unsafe and people were driving over it with families at the weekend.”

He then asked DCC to send another engineer back to recheck the road.

“I looked at the report on their website and again it said it was not a wall issue. They ignored me and I ended up complaining four times about it, and every time I kept saying they did not understand the gravity of the situation.

“We got into February (2024), and they then said that I had been complaining to the wrong place. If that’s the case, why did they send an engineer out to look at it?”

This paper has obtained a copy of the email from the DCC officer, explaining that there had been a delay in responding to Mr Rogers because he submitted his complaints online instead of phoning.

The officer also pointed out that the site had a “history of cracks to utility trenches, and patching going back many years”.

In a further twist, he added that on the day before the collapse, the inspector was made aware that South West Water “were on site looking at a suspected leaking main” as their blue markings were visible.

“Our suspicion is that a service has been leaking, and that and the wet weather has contributed to this collapse,” he said.

South West Water has been asked to comment, but this week DCC said that it would be going ahead with repairs and carry out the works in default of the landowner, “with a view to recover the costs at a later date”.

However, the note added that there is “no timeframe for completion of these works”.

Mr Rogers poured cold water on DCC’s statement, however. He said: I don't think the public should really rest until we actually see they're doing it, because it might just be that they're throwing that out there to take the heat off for a bit.”