Residents in Yarmouth have asked the Mayor to act on their behalf after overnight roadworks on Tennyson Road left children unable to sleep and one family, who had buried their son that day, distraught at the noise.
Steve Cowley, Mayor or Yarmouth wrote this week to county councillors and the Conservative MP, Andrew Turner about the concerns saying,
“I received a number of complains of road works in Yarmouth this evening. Island Roads were re-surfacing Tennyson Road overnight 6.00pm to 6.00am. The road is of course closed because of the work at Bouldnor which does not go on during the night.
“It appears that over night work in residential areas is the policy set up in the contract by IWC with Island Roads. I contacted Island Roads initially but they said that they could not contact anybody on site to give me an explanation.
“Residents acknowledge the work needs to be done but in this case some of the houses are very close to the carriageway. Children are unable to sleep at night and in this instance a family had buried their son earlier in the day.
“I think this policy needs reviewing in these circumstances and local residents need a proper explanation as to why it is essential to do this particular work at night. I went to Tennyson Road at 23.00 to see the problem. There was a continuous noise from all the machinery, vehicles reversing warning noises going off, various horns being set off by drivers, a large number of flashing lights and plate bangers tamping down tarmac.
“I think that the residents of Yarmouth deserve a better explanation from IWC of why this night working is so important.”
A spokesperson for Island Roads told OnTheWight,
The scale and nature of the Highways PFI is such that in many cases, we carry out work overnight to help ensure the comprehensive upgrade of the network across the Island is completed within seven years. This night-time work is usually done on busy strategic roads to avoid them being closed during the day. It is therefore a balancing act between trying to avoid causing daytime disruption to a great many road users, and not unduly inconveniencing residents affected by the night-time work.
In the case of Tennyson Road, we are working around-the-clock to ensure that both the major stabilisation works and the surfacing of this mile long section are completed ahead of the Easter holiday period. To meet this important deadline and as explained to the community via a letter drop and during a recent public meeting we’re using a combination of both day and night time works.
During night schemes, we do give residents advance warning and endeavour to undertake the noisiest element of the work before midnight.
We thank residents for their patience while we complete these works.
Image: © Steve Cowley
