WORK to install improved internet services to a neighbourhood in Christchurch has faced a backlash just days after it commenced.

Virgin Media are carrying out maintenance work at Braemer Drive in Highcliffe.

The improvements, which started last week, are expected to take a number of weeks to complete.

However, residents have complained to Dorset County Council and Virgin Media about the way the internet provider has initially carried out its work.

The council had allocated an area of greenery for a central compound.

Virgin Media has now been forced to remove this by the authority and told to use smaller compounds near to where they are working.

In a letter to a resident of Braemar Drive, Dorset Highways traffic team manager Kevin Cheleda said Virgin Media did not carry out sufficient public engagement about the work they were doing.

Mr Cheleda says: "I am genuinely sorry for the disruption to your lives that these works and compound have caused.

"My team and I had previously only been defending Virgin Media’s right to use the compound as we had thought that full engagement had been done, but even if it had, the way they operated the site and broken all pledges to manage it better would have made its continued use for the next six weeks untenable, so the instruction was given to close it."

Residents also spoke out against lorries travelling in the area to and from the site.

Mudeford and Highcliffe county councillor Lesley Dedman said: "The residents in Braemar Drive have had a terrible time.

"One lady says she has not been able to sleep because of the lorries, which have been coming back and forth from 7am to 8pm yards from her bedroom window.

"I would like to apologise to the residents who have suffered and had a bad experience."

A spokesperson for Virgin Media said: "Virgin Media is currently expanding its network in Highcliffe to bring ultrafast broadband speeds to more homes and businesses.

"We are aware of this particular issue and have spoken to the residents in question and the situation has now been resolved."