A Perth mother says her son is suffering at school because of noisy “out-of-hours” building work outside their house.
Perth and Kinross Council is building six houses at the newly-created Duneaves Place in Letham in a project which has proved unpopular with locals from the outset.
Due to be completed in November last year, the houses have been built but work around the site has dragged on, provoking fury from fed-up residents of adjacent Fortingall Place.
It peaked recently when one called the police as heavy plant continued to rumble past his house at 10pm.
Recently-arrived resident Catriona Mills, who has a six-year-old son, Connor, says the move to their dream first home has become a nightmare.
She said, “My son hasn’t been able to sleep at night and then he has to get up for school with all this going on. I’ve had a couple of calls saying he’s been lethargic and tired at school and that’s quite worrying.
“I’ve tried calling the council to get an explanation but they just fob you off and say the work will be completed soon. Well, it was supposed to be finished on Friday.
“We’ve got double glazing but it’s just a constant drone from outside. I only moved into the house three months ago my first home in Perth but it’s been an absolute nightmare, a joke. I’m appalled it’s been allowed to happen.”
Fellow resident Colin Gordon said he had “snapped” after months of torment and called the police on Friday night.
He said, “The work was supposed to last six months, which was May last year to November, but they’re still not finished. Friday night took the biscuit. There’s been a big push in the last few weeks to get finished and they were working until 10 o’clock at night.
“I snapped and phoned the police at 9.30 to try to get them to stop working. There have been a few nights they’ve been working past nine o’clock and then they start at seven every morning. It’s out of order because there are young kids and pensioners all around and trying to get to sleep.”
Continued…
“When you’re sitting with the curtains shut and one of the big diggers goes by, you’d swear it was a tank rolling past and then there’s the constant high-pitched signal when the plant’s reversing it’s beyond belief.
“They gave us a letter two months ago saying they would have to dig a trench for the services and we’ve been caged in our houses, not able to use our drives or back gardens since then.
“It’s just gone on and on and on and doesn’t seem to have any end in sight. There’s word that the council wants to build another 20 houses so it could all boil up again and who knows how long that could overrun.”
A spokeswoman for Perth and Kinross Council said the rental homes are badly needed to ease the area’s affordable housing shortage.
She said, “We are of course very aware that the construction of the new houses in Duneaves Place unfortunately took longer than originally planned and can fully appreciate the disruption this has caused for neighbouring residents who have been very patient and co-operative.
“The delays were caused by unexpected drainage problems and the extreme weather conditions experienced last winter which held up some key works on the site.
“They have now been completed and final work on the access road is virtually complete,” she said.
“We do apologise for the disruption caused to neighbours, especially in the evening, and will be learning lessons from the feedback to us from local residents. We are though very excited that these new council properties will soon be occupied as family homes.”