TRANSCO and BT are getting ready to rip up parts of Marlow from September - digging deeper and lasting longer than the infamous Cable and Wireless works earlier this year.

Hitting Station Road, Chapel Street and Oxford Road, the digging will also coincide with major repairs to Marlow Bridge.

January looks set to be the worst month with Marlow Bridge closed for 48 hour periods and Chapel Street governed by traffic lights.

The works were initially planned for June but have been put off until after September 17 to avoid the tourist season.

The news came at a Marlow Town Centre Forum meeting last month.

Forum vice-chairman John Laker said Marlow was likely to be badly affected for several months.

He warned it would a 'disaster' if planned work in Spittal Street clashed with works on Marlow Bridge.

Transco and BT will both be digging up parts of Station Road - the council is trying to get them to work together.

The gas company will be out of Station Road by the end of November. However BT's duct-laying programme will take longer than Cable and Wireless' works on the same site.

Road workers will pack-up for December and return in the New Year.

Transco will return in January to Chapel Street digging for six to eight weeks.

When Chapel Street is finished the company will move up to Oxford Road and then up to Cambridge Road.

A spokesman for Buckinghamshire County Council said: "We hope to get them out before the tourists appear. Road closures will only be in place where absolutely necessary.

"Where reasonable we will be operating 24 hour traffic lights."

He said the council has done its best to co-ordinate works but it has no statutory rights to control when companies carry out their work.