A QUIET stretch of road in Tonge Moor has been dug up three times over the past five months -- and more work is due to be carried out in November.

The road was asphalted earlier this year but, soon after, the stretch was dug up again when it was discovered that no drains had been installed.

And residents in St Bees Road say the land has been excavated twice since.

The site was asphalted in April after a residents' campaign -- the grass verge on which they parked their cars became churned up.

Bolton Council engineers wrote to residents informing them that the verge would be covered over to solve the problem.

But soon after the work was completed, planners found that drains had not been installed and the verge was dug up again.

Three months later, parts of the road had to be dug up again for the installation of street lights.

Last week, residents received another letter informing them of further work to be done in November on the water mains beneath St Bees Road.

Resident Norman Johnson said: "Surely the council knew that this work would need to be done -- it just seems like one thing after another. I've never known so much work to be done on such a small road in such a short space of time."

A council spokesman said it has an agreement with utilities companies that they do not carry out work on a road that has been resurfaced in the previous 12 months, unless it is an emergency.

The spokesman added: "Where we can, we try to co-ordinate works but if we are not told beforehand there is little we can do.

"In this particular case United Utilities did not tell us about their work and we will be speaking to them to find out the reasons behind this."