“There isn’t any other way for Wybong residents to get to Muswellbrook so we have to use the road whether we like it or not,” he said.

“The road is breaking down and in the recent heat the tar has been melting and big clumps have been sticking to our tyres.”

Mr Clay said residents feel like no-one is listening.

“We didn’t want the mine, but when that went through the least we thought we’d get out of it was a good road,” he said.

Xstrata Coal Communications manager James Rickards said Mangoola Coal had continued to meet regularly with Muswellbrook Shire Council to discuss the works it is undertaking on Wybong Road.

“The upgraded section of road constructed by Mangoola has undergone some premature failures of the base course, which is the top 150mm, and as such temporary repairs and maintenance have had to take place.

“As this work is conducted, some short term speed restrictions have been put in place in the interests of road user safety.”

Muswellbrook council’s manager of community infrastructure Neil Pope said there had been some defective sealing work done by Xstrata but there were also underlying problems with the road which the mine was trying to pinpoint.

The company is watering the road to keep the temperature down, which Mr Pope said is normal practice for this type of problem.

Mr Pope said the speed limit would be adjusted once the roadwork was finished.

Mr Rickards said pending council approval, the work to fix the affected area is expected to take approximately three months.

“The long-term repair strategy has been submitted to council and is currently undergoing an engineering review,” he said.

“The fix is temperature dependent and could be delayed until warmer months towards the end of 2011, depending upon weather conditions.”

Mr Rickards said if this occurred short term fixes would continue and the council would be kept informed.