ANGRY residents in a leafy street are demanding action from highways chiefs over what they claim is a botched resurfacing of their road.

People living in Dale Valley Road in Shirley Warren, Southampton, say tar from the road surface is getting into their homes and loose chippings are damaging vehicles travelling along the street - and it should simply have been repaved.

But council roads chiefs say that's an expensive and unnecessary way - and the repair work is adequate.

The trouble began two weeks ago when road bosses resurfaced the road with Tarmac and chippings.

But residents claimed they failed to clear away most of the gravel which was left after the road resurfacing was completed.

They also found that tar was getting stuck on their shoes and being brought into residents' houses.

They contacted the City Council who came and steam-cleaned the road.

But campaigners say that chippings are still left on the road surface and the tar has not been cleaned away properly.

Petition organiser Mike Cottrell said: "The chippings are not now in the centre of the road but where the cars park and they will not move.

"The tar is also being brought into people's houses. Cars have got damaged with the chippings. Vehicles are going past and the chips are whizzing up from their tyres.

"In an ideal situation, we would want to see the whole lot taken away. The council should give us a Tarmac surface only like they have in Luccombe Road which is nearby."

Southampton City Council's highways boss Rod Anderson acknowledged that people would prefer full repaving to their roads but it was expensive and often unnecessary.

He said: "In Dale Valley Road, full repaving was used to add strength to the central section where most of the traffic runs, including buses. The whole road was then dressed to provide added skid resistance and seal the whole road.

"This means it will last a great deal longer than if we had simply repaved the centre strip, as well as improving road safety and providing a uniform appearance."

He added: "I am sorry that these works cause inconvenience, but the end result is a better road for everyone that will last for years."