Residents in Wootton Bassett who have endured three months of cabling work are calling for an end to contractors digging up the road.

Almost every street in the town has been affected by ntl which is laying down lines so people can watch cable television.

In the last few months, 20 telecommunication companies have carried out work in Wootton Bassett and two more Cable & Wireless and Tyco are set to come into the town.

Many of them do not even serve residents in the area but are using it as a connection point between Bristol and London.

It mirrors the situation in Swindon which has been paralysed by cable companies who, once they are issued with a licence by the Department of Trade and Industry, can pick and choose where they want to work as long as they give the council one month's notice.

Three firms FPL, GCI World Com and Thus Communications have now announced they want to put in cables before Christmas but Swindon Council have told them they will have to wait until the New Year.

Officers are trying to get the cable companies to share the same trench in the road with ntl to reduce the chaos they are causing and prevent the scenario of workmen opening up a hole which has just been filled up by another contractor days earlier.

In Wootton Bassett, residents are furious about the disruption the cabling work is causing.

"We have had a trench along our pavement for about a week now which is just covered in plastic," said music teacher Rosemary Wells who lives in Shakespeare Road. "The mess and inconvenience is going on and on and everyone is getting really angry."

Dominic Gorton, area co-ordinator of street works services for North and West Wiltshire, said three quarters of the work by ntl is now complete, but the rest has been delayed and may not be finished until the New Year.

"Ntl has almost finished its work in Swindon so all the gangs of workmen have moved to Wootton Bassett. We are feeling very inundated at the moment," he said.

"There are also a lot of telecommunication companies that won't serve anyone in Wiltshire. They have a connection at London and at Bristol and Wiltshire is slap bang in the middle from where they want to go to so they are digging up every road to put their lines in."

Neil Ainsworth, street works manager for Swindon Council, described the situation in Swindon as a "nightmare". He said: "We are trying to get these cable companies who have announced they want to come into Swindon to work together but they are not all using the same routes. They will be all over the place. But the problem is there is so little space in the roads where they want to go now."