Calstock residents are calling for urgent action to upgrade the village’s sewage system following a dramatic increase of sewage tankers taking the narrow lane past their homes.

Donna Ingram says as many as ten tankers a day take the lane past her property on Fore Street, causing structural damage as they shake the foundations. She says she is ‘not the only one’ affected along the route of the tankers removing sewage via Fore Street and Harewood Road.

A crunch meeting has been called with South West Water officials tomorrow during which Donna plans to walk them down to the river to see the extent of the problem. ‘We live here, we are the ones that are suffering, and we have very good evidence that this sewage system is not fit for purpose.’

Donna said: ‘We keep being told [by SWW] that there is something that isn’t working significantly in the sewage plant which means the sewage has to be taken away by tankers until it is fixed, but it seems to be going on and on and on.

‘It is a tiny road that back in the day would have been for horses and carts and they simply can’t cope with huge tankers going back and forth every day. We have had damage to our property — we have still got scaffolding up outside. Since I’ve raised this, I’ve had six or seven people contact me

‘SWW claim that the roads are suitable for these vehicles and their load, however, this does not equate to the suitability of the whole environment for such large vehicles and volume of traffic, as the resulting damage to our properties clearly demonstrates. Most of these properties have stood for hundreds of years without any signs of cracks or deterioration, and only now that the traffic and load has increased, do we have issues.

‘It is not just us that have been affected by this, people all along the road are having problems. We have had up to ten tankers a day taking this route on a regular basis!’

Donna has already already been told by South West Water that she can apply for compensation for about the structural damage to her property, but said she feels their is a wider issue at stake.

‘It is not the contractors’ fault,’ she said. ‘I don’t have a problem with the driving or standard of driving. It is South West Water that need to take responsibility for this and come up with a solution.

‘My main argument is that the sewage system isn’t fit for purpose, and if it was they wouldn’t need so many tankers to come backwards and forwards every day. If we keep having tankers, they are going to keep causing damage.

‘The main thing I want to know is, why can’t they upgrade the sewage works? It is not fit for purpose any more for the number of people who are using it. Pennon [who own South West Water] recorded pre-tax profits of £90 million for the first half of last year. Why can’t they spend some of that on upgrading our sewage system?’

A South West Water spokesperson said: ‘We are currently completing essential maintenance at our Calstock treatment site. While this project is ongoing there will be a temporary small increase in operational vehicles in Calstock. The work is due to be completed by March, which will reduce vehicle movements to and from the site. We would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding while we carry out this important improvement project.’