Residents at Uplyme say dumped broadband equipment has turned parts of their village into an eyesore.

They are angry that coils of 'ugly' orange fibre-optic cable have been left abandoned in Gore Lane and Venlake.

Uplyme resident Marcus Dixon said it was left on the roadside by internet service provider Gigaclear.

He said: "They were appointed to roll out the 'Connecting Devon and Somerset' superfast broadband project.

"However they have recently had their contract cancelled by Devon County Council.

"It means Uplyme residents may have to put up with the dumped cabling for another two years, while Devon County Council's now 'super slow' broadband contract is reallocated.

"It's very disappointing that Devon County Council has allowed this eyesore orange cabling to be dumped for over a year in Uplyme.

"Devon County Council are anticipating going out to tender for the problematic Phase 2 Uplyme broadband project in December 2019.

"The outcome of this supplier hunt in unlikely to be known until the end of 2020, which means no new roll out will probably begin until sometime in 2021."

A Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) spokesman told the Midweek Herald: "Following termination of the contracts in the Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) region, Gigaclear has confirmed that it will continue to serve existing customers in the CDS area.

"The company is currently evaluating its commercial build but is expected to focus on completing works in progress.

"We will ask them to remove their equipment if they don't need it for their commercial roll-out."

Jo Scarrott, Regional Manager, Gigaclear, South West Region said: "We are aware of the ducting and the issue it is causing for residents.

"Gigaclear are building the infrastructure for the full fibre to the premises (FTTP) ultrafast broadband network in the area, which, unfortunately has been met with some challenges.

"This ducting is a key part of our buried network which will run (buried) to a cabinet 40m away. Once this and the remaining build work is complete, we will be able to light the network and bring 1Gbps speeds to residents.

"This work has been prioritised and will be completed as soon as possible. We would like to apologise to residents for the disruption caused."