Roger Hayter wrote

The recent thread about a retaining wall problem prompted me to post this
picture of a very recently built retaining wall locally. I would be quite
interested in opinions on it. My impression is that building control may
not have had very much input:

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT

It is about 3m high and about 6m long. The near bit is in front of an
existing retaining wall but the two thirds of the length away from the
camera has replaced a retaining wall nearer the road. It is built of
roughly
rectangular stones about one to three tons in weight and laid dry on top
of
each other in rough courses, four to five. Below the lowest visible
course
some similar stones have been buried, but not as single stones for the
whole
thickness of the wall and there are no formal foundations. The road is an
official "C" road. There is a (as in the picture) a house a few metres
back
from the top of the wall.

I see this as a disaster waiting to happen, but am I being too
pessimistic?

Yep, nothing is going to move them now.

PS there is no material in the horizontal beds between the stones, but
some very tasteful ferns have been planted in some of the gaps at the
corners of the stones.