ANGRY residents reckon workmen have made a botched job of resurfacing pavements.

Householders in Littlemoor, Weymouth, were horrified to find a 'black mess' covering the area outside their homes. They knew resurfacing work was scheduled but couldn't believe the final result.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council which ordered the work has now moved to assure them that the pavements are supposed to look like that.

Elaine Pugsley, of Nuthatch Close, said: "It really has to be seen to be believed."

She added: "I returned home to find the pavements had turned into a black mess.

"It's uneven and messy. I found the material on plants, up walls and over the road.

"It remained wet for a long time and some kids started messing around and writing names in it."

Miss Pugsley, a care assistant, said many people in the area were unhappy with the work although she understands some areas are better than others.

She said the pavements were in state of disrepair and needed resurfacing but she felt let down by the job that was done.

She added that residents received little or no notice of the work.

But borough council principal highways engineer Alan Muncaster said he had complete faith in the resurfacing job.

He said: "We must have laid hundreds of thousands of square metres of this material all over the borough.

"When we first lay it we often get a few calls of complaint.

"I admit it does appear rough but in about six months it settles down and looks absolutely fine. It is a bitumen and aggregate slurry which is spread over an existing surface. The brush marks are evident but they will disappear eventually."

Mr Muncaster said the work was undertaken by footway surfacing specialist JPCS which operates all over the country.

The firm leaflets every household before work starts warning residents not to walk on the surface for at least two hours and to cut back any overhanging vegetation, he explained.

Mr Muncaster said Littlemoor was the only estate where the council had received reports of children writing in the wet surface.