ROADWORKS carried on a street in Chester have angered some residents after patchwork repairs were left outside several homes.

The unsightly work found along Plas Newton Lane was carried out last month and has seen grass verges, pavements and tarmac require restoration.

Matthew Croxley, a resident of Plas Newton Lane, said of the roadworks: “The issue is, the sections they have done, limited though they are, they’ve made a real mess.

“Contractors often don’t care about tidying the work up. They don’t reseed the verges, the quality of work is poor, the tarmac is uneven and there are mud tracks onto the road.

Chester and District Standard: The work affected grass verges and pavements outside several homes.The work affected grass verges and pavements outside several homes. (Image: M Croxley)

Chester and District Standard:

“Where their tires have been, new seed won’t take because its uneven.”

Mr Croxley went on to say that he had spent over £100 of his own money to attempt to rectify the mess outside his property, which included having to level out the verge with new topsoil and replant grass seed.

Cllr Richard Beacham (Newton and Hoole) said: 

"Residents have every right to be frustrated by the installation works. It is noisy, and has a visual impact on their street. It leaves behind damage to grass verges and in some cases can change how the area looks in terms of local pavements and roads. The double whammy for residents in Newton has been that two companies have been installing networks in close proximity to each other and it's easy to see why this feels like a nonsense. 

"If the companies could have coordinated their efforts, they could surely have saved money and impacted residents less? On balance I feel that we live in a world where the speed at which we need to consume data is only increasing, so the availability of full fibre broadband for families in the area is important. However, in future maybe there needs to be more focus on the impact for residents embedded in telecommunications legislation."

Full fibre infrastructure

It was thought that the work had been carried out by contractors on behalf of Cityfibre. The company are in the process of installing full fibre broadband across the city as part of a £23m project due to be completed by 2025.

However, Cityfibre have confirmed that this work was not a part of their full fibre project.

Instead, the work was carried out by Virgin Media on behalf of a Nexfibre project – another full fibre broadband provider planning to bring infrastructure to 5 million homes across the country by the end of 2026 – as part of a £4.5bn investment.

Chester is noted by Nexfibre as part of their 'current footprint' and further work is expected to be carried out in the city during the next three months.

Virgin Media said that these images, which are dated from mid February, show the immediate aftermath but that the pavement and grass verges were properly reinstated prior to contact from the Standard, offering updated images to illustrate this.

Chester and District Standard: Update images from Virgin Media, taken on March 21.Update images from Virgin Media, taken on March 21. (Image: Virgin Media)

The company also say that the verges have been seeded and 'will grow back as the weather changes.'

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: "We’re currently expanding our network to bring ultrafast services to homes and businesses in Chester. Prior to the Standard getting in touch, the contractor responsible for the installation had already visited the site to properly reinstate the road and grass verges."