FAMILIES living in Bath Road, Devizes, are furious that just weeks after part of the road was resurfaced it has been dug up time and time again and there are fears yet more work is needed.

Bed and breakfast owner Nicole Powell started a petition to get a pot holed stretch of the road resurfaced because of the terrible rumbling of lorries.

She and other householders were delighted when Wiltshire Council finally carried out the work in November but were soon stressed again when workers from Wales and West Gas dug up two small areas the week before Christmas.

Then on Monday workers from Wessex Water put up temporary traffic lights and started work.

Mrs Powell said: "We had this beautiful new stretch of road and then we had three sets of new road works in the space of about two weeks. I started the petition because of the noise. It was a dreadful rumbling especially when empty lorries went by.

"Thankfully most of our rooms are at the back of the house and we have double glazing but we would get people requesting to be in a back room. After the new road surface was put down it was wonderful but now we are worried that all of the patching that has gone on will not have been done to the same standard."

Peter Hunt who lives on the other side of Bath Road was upset by the work done by the gas team but then could hardly believe it when the water squad turned up on Monday.

He said: "My wife came back and said there were temporary traffic lights and the road was being dug up again. This time it was for a water main. It is mad this work could not be co-ordinated.

"We had to put up with years of the road being full of pot holes and the noise from lorries in the early hours rattling as they went over drain covers that were at a different level. We had a few weeks after the work was complete when it all went quiet and the road looked good but then road was dug up by the gas people.

"Now it has been dug up again for a water main."

A spokesman for Wiltshire Council said the gas operators had been called out just before Christmas to repair a leak and there was no way the council could have known about this in advance.

He said the latest work by Wessex Water had also arisen out of the blue and involved a leaking pipe.

But a spokesman for the water company said that although its team had now finished on the site it might not be the end of the problem. A spokesman said: "A problem with a pipe was reported to us by the resident and we were requested to go out and inspect on an emergency basis – hence the council not knowing about any Wessex Water work when they resurfaced the road.

"Upon digging up a section of the road to take a look, it turns out the pipe is actually a gas pipe, so the issue is now back with the council to liaise with the relevant gas company. Our staff are no longer on site."