The water leak in Devon that's been ongoing for eight months

People living in Paignton have hit out at a water leak which has been ongoing for more than eight months

South West Water, which is responsible for the area, has now vowed to take action after the leak has seen thousands of gallons of precious water disappearing down a drain.

According to residents, water has been flowing from the leak at the bottom of Colley End Road since before Christmas.

One resident described it as a "considerable" leak, adding: "I phoned the water board nearly two weeks ago. This took an hour and I was assured that someone would be out to look at it within three hours.

"Well, surprise, it’s still running into the nearby drain. It’s awful when we are being asked to be careful as we are in a drought situation.”

It comes as a hosepipe ban is set to be introduced in Devon next week after a sustained period of hot weather, with a drought declared in parts of the South West.

During this time, South West Water says it has been fixing 2,000 leaks a month - with a third of those happening on customer supply pipes.

A spokesperson for South West Water said: “Unfortunately, this leak is on a private pipe, outside of South West Water’s network.

"However, we have offered to repair the leak for free and we have only recently received permission to do so.

"We will be urgently carrying out the fix on the private pipe, now we have received all necessary permissions.”