DIGGING work on York's Knavesmire is making locals fed up of Royal Ascot already - and it's still months away.

Douglas Mumford, 75, who lives in The Mount, in south York, said a "terrible mess" was being made of the Knavesmire ground during work to supply water for the summer's race-going crowds.

Mr Mumford, who has walked his dog in the area for about ten years, said other Knavesmire regulars had been angered by the heavy digging and track marks which had been left on the well-used open space.

"It goes the whole length of the Knavesmire," he said.

"They've made a terrible mess - you can't get across.

"The annoying thing is that it's unnecessary.

" I can't believe they are doing it so destructively - they seem to be making a real meal of it.

"If I walk my grandchildren they can't get across it - we have to carry them over."

Mr Mumford said that similar digging work done on the site in the past had included wooden boards to make walking on the land easier.

Local councillor Sandy Fraser said: "I want to see the least disruption to people's normal lives caused by Ascot."

A council spokeswoman said Yorkshire Water was carrying out the work on behalf of the Racecourse Committee to boost the water supply to the site in preparation for Royal Ascot.

The work, which began on February 14, will not finish until April 12.

A Yorkshire Water spokeswoman said the new pipe connection with Tadcaster Road would provide double the current water flow.

The spokeswoman said: "To minimise the impact we have employed a technique called 'moling', which, rather than digging trenches the length of the sewer (roughly 10 to 15m), allows workers to source key areas of about 1.5 metres.

"Any disturbance to the soil that is caused by contractors' vehicles will be cleared and grass seeds will be laid so that the area is returned to its original state.

"We have been working closely with the council and have complied with all their requests regarding the scheme.

"We apologise for any inconvenience that is caused by this work and assure residents and users of the grounds that we will strive to complete the project as soon as possible."

Updated: 09:18 Saturday, March 12, 2005