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Councillor Maggie Carman is continuing to press the Council to take action to reduce the daily noise from the demolition contractors. Maggie attended a meeting with concerned residents at a meeting at the Prince Bonaparte pub to discuss what to do about the intolerable noise pollution from the Whiteleys redevelopment.
Residents from all over the area have made contact with their daily experience of the noise and disruption:
“I live in a Basement Flat in Hereford Road. The daily noise from the Whiteley’s Development makes it impossible to work from home. If I’m experiencing this, I assume everyone else in a basement within in this radius from Whiteleys does too. How can this kind of disturbance to the neighbourhood, to THIS degree, be allowed? This is for a private development that takes from, rather than adds to the community. The cost and inconvenience to me of having to go out somewhere above ground to be able to concentrate will be multiplied by others in the same position. I can imagine people who work nights and need to sleep during the day are deeply affected.”
“I live in Chepstow Place and can also hear the noise from Whiteleys. I called the council and was informed the builders discovered 1.5m of concrete and they are trying to remove it. I was told that there are some restrictions for the noise (only from 8am to 10am, from noon to 2pm and from 4pm to 6pm). I work from home and the noise makes me desperate. It is increasing my stress and anxiety and does not allow me to relax. I cannot imagine hearing this for the next 6 months, seems completely unreasonable. It would be so helpful if you could do something about it. Otherwise, they should pay for counseling!!
The Council say the following actions are being taken to minimize and mitigate the noise:
- The site is being monitored by Officers with regards to the compliance with the agreed 2 hour-on and 2 hour-off working pattern.
- The site has set noise and vibration limits with 4 continuous noise/vibration monitors located on the 4 boundaries.
- An automatic alerting system is in place to notify the site if the set levels have been exceeded and the site has confirmed that since the works have commenced no such alarm has been activated to date.
- The Environmental Sciences Team are actively monitoring data that is received from the site and will check for compliance.
- The company managing and undertaking the construction works are looking at the possibility of alternative machinery to see if they reduce the impact of noise/vibrations from the site.
This is seriously affecting people’s health. We are very disappointed that the response from the developers and WCC is that the current noise levels are not illegal.
STOP PRESS
The Whiteley’s developers have organised a Public Meeting on Thursday 27th June at the Porchester Small Hall from 7pm – 8.30pm