Abergele woman's noisy neighbour misery

Sep 25 2008 by David Simister, North Wales Weekly News

Woman in noise misery

A WOMAN recovering from an operation has spoken of her suffering after noisy builders moved into the buildings surrounding her home.

Michelle Berrie, above, of Berth-y-Glyd, Abergele, was ordered to return to her council-owned house and rest for three months after having a hysterectomy earlier this year, but soon found that renovation work in the two neighbouring properties were ruining her recuperation.

“It’s been a nightmare. The whole building shakes when they’re working with their machines and I have to turn my TV volume up to its highest setting just to be able to hear it.

“We can’t open any of the doors or windows either because the dust coming from the site is so bad, and even then my furniture ends up completely covered after just a day or two,” said the 38-year-old taxi driver.

“If the council had notified me and said the work was going to be happening then I would have made arrangements to stay elsewhere to recover from my operation, but there’s been nothing. We’re still paying full rent on the property, yet we’ve had no offers of any compensation. It seems the council doesn’t give a damn.”

Conwy County Council sent contractors into the two houses on either side of Mrs Berrie’s home to undertake repair damage caused by damp.

However the couple are considering legal action against the council due to the damage it is causing to their health.

Michelle’s husband Robert, also a taxi driver, said he was extremely annoyed with the way the work was being carried out, saying there were also safety concerns with the site.

“There’s a school nearby, and one of the girls who goes there went flying the other day because she slipped on some mud that hadn’t been cleared up at the site. The council hasn’t put up any signs at the site so it’s actually a dangerous hazard.”

Conwy County Council could not confirm how long the work was due to last but released a statement acknowledging that some residents may have been disturbed by the ongoing work.

“We are sorry for the disturbance caused whilst we carry out remedial work on this property. Unfortunately some noise is unavoidable but we have asked the contractors to restrict their hours to 8.30am-4pm to minimise disruption to neighbours. The work will be completed as soon as possible.”