| mad mac | 08 Jun 2009 4:10 a.m. PST |
The contractors building the KFC across the road from us decided today that 7.10am would be a nice time to start work, with a pneumatic drill. Contacted said contractors Office to complain, and it took three attepmts to talk to anyone, and when I did speak to someone I was told they didn't like my attitude as I'd upset their receptionist. I apologised at this point, as that was not my intention, but pointed out my frustrations.
The contractors representative kindly pointed out they had no restrictions on when they can start work. So this makes me feel pretty isolated as: 1. The residents objected to the damn thing being built there in the first place, but were ignored.
2. It would appear that no-one is under any obligation to show any consideration to residents nearby. |
| streetline | 08 Jun 2009 4:17 a.m. PST |
Complain to KFC head office – one of their franchises is bringing the brand into disrepute…. |
| Steve Johnson | 08 Jun 2009 5:09 a.m. PST |
Call your local building board too. Maybe call the police next time as well. |
| Space Monkey | 08 Jun 2009 5:50 a.m. PST |
You'd think there'd be some kind of public noise ordinance in place . Maybe they can start work any time they want but the noise level might be a different matter. |
| The Hobbybox | 08 Jun 2009 6:20 a.m. PST |
I just checked with a mate of mine who is a police officer. He reckons it's probably in breach of the anti-social noise rules, but that you'd need to contact the local environmental health department, as it's their remit to deal with this stuff. |
| The Tin Dictator | 08 Jun 2009 7:01 a.m. PST |
If you are in the USA, most municipalities have ordinances that allow construction activities to begin at a certain time in the morning and require them to end by a cetrtain time at night. As a general rule its 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM. But it varies all over the place. Just because the contractor says there's no restrictions doesn't make it so. Contact the Building Department of the town you're in and ask. |
| Mardaddy | 08 Jun 2009 5:00 p.m. PST |
"…you'd need to contact the local environmental health department, as it's their remit to deal with this stuff." Not to go too far afield, but does anyone else see this as an issue unto itself? Noise is noise, not to hard to figure out a pneumatic drill across the street is too loud for a residential neighborhood at that time in the morning… having to consult with an environmental specialist for this kind of thing smacks of a too-fat city budget. |
| mad mac | 09 Jun 2009 3:28 a.m. PST |
Thanks to all those who responded, and now the good news….. My Good Lady Wife managed to contact someone in Northumbria County Council planning, who have taken over the role of our now defunct local council. They were surprised that restrictions had not been applied to the planning permission when it was granted, but said they would contact the environmental health folk and would visit the site. The environemtal health man agreed this was a statutory nuisance (apologies if the term is not correct) and would go and see the site manager. To cut a long story short, the planning person and environemental health person both rang back after their visits to let us know that the contractors concerned have had to sign an agreement to not do any 'noisy' work between 08:00 and 18:00 and have also been given a noise abaitment order. The planner and environmental health person both told us to contact them directly if we have any further problems. |
Stronty Girl  | 09 Jun 2009 3:28 a.m. PST |
Mardaddy – it is likely less to do with fat budgets and more to do with council organisational structures. Our council's Noise team is in the Pollution & Environment Department, presumably because it fits in better there than in Housing or Refuse Collection. |
| Space Monkey | 09 Jun 2009 5:53 p.m. PST |
"you'd need to contact the local environmental health department, as it's their remit to deal with this stuff." So how come it's the police who show up when our parties have gotten too loud? Still, nice to hear you got it worked out… hopefully. |
| Mardaddy | 09 Jun 2009 8:32 p.m. PST |
Stronty Girl, my observation was that I thought the whole idea of needing an Environmental Specialist (with attendant budget and staff) to make the call before any action can be made to stop a pneumatic drill at 7:10AM is excessively over-bureaucratic (as well as ridiculous), no matter what the organizational structure. Reminds me of the hoops I had to jump through when I bought a new copier for the unit I was with, I had to get a sign off through Base Environmental, HazMat and Base Hazardous Waste for the toner cartridges (!!) And I'm sure each office justified their existence, staff and budget each year with their documentation of how many consults they did, even though they were excessively redundant. |
