RESIDENTS are holding their breath in the run up to the air tattoo at RAF Fairford this weekend after last year's show caused mayhem and gridlock on the roads.

Residents are already furious that a new route through Corston, Malmesbury and Minety was devised by the Royal International Air Tattoo without consultation with local people.

Many fear they may be trapped in their homes because of the heavy traffic that may even prevent them from driving in and out of their own town.

The Fairford tattoo is the world's biggest air show and last year attracted more than 200,000 visitors. This year it is expected to attract even greater numbers because it is the 100th anniversary of flight.

Traffic problems last year included a 15-mile tailback from Fairford in Gloucestershire to junction 15 of the M4.

Traffic campaigner Daphne Jones, of Corston, said: "I am very concerned about it. We are going to get a lot of traffic and we get a lot already. I just hope that nothing gets stuck under the Kingway Bridge. It would be absolute chaos."

But Ian Sheeley, the tattoo's events service manager, said he was confident the new procedures would avoid the traffic chaos and last year's 15-mile tailback.

He said: "We have spent the whole of the winter months working with the county council and police to modify plans and developing new ways of tackling congestion."

He said the primary road access would still be via junction 15 but the route through Malmesbury and Minety would be an overflow to release pressure if it gets clogged up.

"We can bleed traffic off junction 15. We have electronic message signals that allow us to monitor and alter the flows," he said.

But travel information given on the tattoo website tells drivers from the South West, West and Bristol on the M4 to exit at junction 17 and travel north towards Malmesbury, turning north east onto the B4040 towards Minety and then north on the B4696 towards Ashton Keynes.

County councillor Carole Soden, who represents Minety, said it was a pity that tattoo organisers did not see fit to contact people who live in the area to discuss the new route.

But she was keeping her fingers crossed that the new measures worked.

"We have been assured that they think it will be nothing like last year but we will just have to wait and see," she said.

She said it could cause problems for many local people visiting the Cotswold Water Park in Ashton Keynes.

"There is a bridge there with traffic lights. It could potentially cause tail-backs," she said. "Lots of people will be going to the water park to go swimming or sailing and they could be held up for a long time."

County councillor John Thomson, who represents Malmesbury, said the way the tattoo had dealt with the situation had done nothing to build bridges with local communities after last year's traffic chaos.

"I am concerned that it is not a very safe road," he said. "It will not be a steady flow of traffic it will be a mad rush in the morning and evening."

But organisers said a park and ride at Swindon and a park and fly at Kemble Airfield will help reduce the number of vehicles on the roads.

Mr Sheeley said a professional company had been hired to handle the car parking instead of volunteers and this should help the flow of traffic.