Essex Wharf Development Noise Disturbances

We have been copied into a local resident's letter of complaint to Waltham Forest about the development on Essex Wharf, Lea Bridge Road and the leasing of the site to Network Rail/Balfour Beatty. An extract from the letter is copied below. 

"The site has been essentially turned into a 24-hour car park and works depot for the last couple of months, which I understand to be beyond the terms of the planning agreement.

On a weekly basis there are workmen loading trucks and vans late into the night/early morning - with the most recent being 19/6/2012 when railway sleepers (or similar large metal objects) were being loaded onto a flatbed truck between 2 and 3am with the aid of a small crane. This created a very loud disturbance which I could hear in my flat opposite through the double glazing with all windows firmly shut. This of course means that all the residents at the river end of Southwold Road would have been equally affected by this frankly unacceptable disturbance, and I also imagine that it would have also have affected the residents on the south side of Lea Bridge Road too.

As I have mentioned, this is not the first time - at least once a week there is a similar noise disturbance of metal objects being thrown on to the back of a truck in the early hours of the morning. This is compounded by the all-night floodlighting and the occasional use of generators after dark to create a disturbance that is not suitable for such a dense residential area by any stretch of the imagination. I have also witnessed on two occasions workmen openly urinating on site in broad daylight despite there being Portaloos installed - not the impression I imagine Waltham Forest wishes to be projecting during the Olympic period in plain view from the new river boats, the towpath, or to the visiting American athletes to the basketball training facility. 

My recommendations are: no work, loading, lights (other than those for health and safety reasons), or generators on the Essex Wharf site between the hours of 8PM and 8AM. I would also suggest that the contractors are made fully aware of their responsibilities to the local residents on what is a very open and exposed site. Essentially many of the guidelines that the Considerate Construction Scheme outline - which I might also suggest adherence to becomes a compulsory caveat in the successful granting of planning permission for construction projects in Waltham Forest, regardless of their proximity to existing residential properties. 

I sincerely hope this is not indicative of what we, the residents of Millfields and the surrounding area are to expect for the continuing work on the site for the duration of Balfour Beatty's residency and the further building works for the already controversial residential development.

I urge you to take action on this matter to ensure that it does not continue, either for the remaining Balfour Beatty encampment or for the future works on the site."