Dartmouth's Townstal Community Hall is falling apart – just nine years after the £270,000 complex was built.

Hall bosses are faced with a bill of more than £7,000 to repair the roof after ridge tiles began falling off.

And if they cannot find the cash soon they will be faced with closing the hall completely on health and safety grounds, said hall committee chairman and town councillor Steve Smith.

The hall is already beginning to leak because of the roof problems.

And Cllr Smith said: 'My biggest concern is public safety. If we get strong winds and heavy rain, I am concerned that one of those ridge tiles could go into orbit and kill someone.

'We have a duty of care to the public not to kill them when they are trying to use the hall.'

The hall committee has already made a plea for financial help from the town council which pumped £50,000 of taxpayers' cash into building the complex in 2004.

A fundraising fete, which included a musical performance by the Dartmouth Academy steel band, was due to go ahead this Wednesday in the Royal Avenue Gardens, Dartmouth, to help fund the repair bill.

And the hall committee is looking for a local band to support a similar fundraising event in the gardens on Saturday, August 17.

Cllr Smith said: 'Two of the ridge tiles have already blown off and the rest are so loose you can see it when you stand in the car park.'

He said that areas on the gable end of the purpose-built community hall are also crumbling.

For more on this story, see this week's Dartmouth Chronicle