Marlow man spends £100k on house extension to escape bottle bank noise (From Bucks Free Press)

Marlow man spends £100k on house extension to escape bottle bank noise

12:07pm Wednesday 22nd July 2009 in

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A SLEEPLESS resident blighted by night time noise pollution has spent £100,000 extending his house – and has now threatened to take legal action against the council.

Mark Holmes, 43, of St James Courtyard, Claremont Gardens, Marlow is moving his master bedroom into the extension – currently being built – to get away from the sound of smashing glass at the bottle banks during the night.

He said he was driven to the extreme move because he had reached the end of his tether.

“The problem started with the bottle banks being emptied around 2am every morning and as late as 4am.

“Missing out on your sleep like this can be dangerous for anyone in any line of work, if you don't get any sleep it can be dangerous driving.

“It's a daft place to have a bottle bank. All the council are thinking about is green targets and not about residents.”

Mr Holmes' neighbour Beveryley Passey, 50, of Claremont Gardens began a petition about the noise of crashing bottles at the recycling bins in the Liston Road car park two years ago.

Around 20 households signed the list.

Mother-of-two Mrs Passey said her home has been afflicted by “non-stop noise pollution”.

She became so annoyed she decided to start filming the varying sources of the din from her window.

Her unusual DVD collection, archiving the activities of the car park, has also captured lorry drivers defecating and urinating in the bushes - which border her garden - and asylum seekers sleeping rough.

She said the car park becomes a taxi rank on weekends and the sound of the radio blaring adds to her aggravation.

Mrs Passey said she and husband Ian rarely, if ever, sleep well.

“You are lying there in bed and then all of a sudden it's like there's been a car crash,” she said.

Although signs are displayed at the bottle banks instructing recyclers not to use them after 9pm, these are ignored Mrs Passey said.

She added: “You end up totally and utterly shattered, it's day after day after day and when you get no sleep you become more irrational.”

The grandmother-of-one said she had also been driven to pull out wires from underneath cars to silence incessant alarms.

She said: “There weren't any bottle banks when we moved here in 1989. Over the last ten years it's got worse, we haven't been consulted about it.

“Where we sleep we're only 12 feet away, I don't believe we should be having to live with this.

“I'm not giving up but I'm losing my cool.”

WDC spokesman Becky Wotherspoon said the council is aware of residents' complaints and it has taken steps to improve the problem since 2007.

However, she said the recycling centre had “been a popular feature for residents of Marlow for more than a decade” and there were no plans to move the bins.

Mrs Wotherspoon said: “These bottle banks have never been emptied at 2am or 4am as the contractor we use does not work during these hours.

“There are a number of pubs and restaurants along this service road, which we believe add to the noise disturbance and WDC have sent letters in the past to these establishments, seeking their cooperation when emptying glass into waste containers.

“We are not responsible for the private waste collection operatives contracted to empty the trade waste bins from these establishments and as such cannot control what time these are collected.”

Long distance lorry drivers used to use the car park to stay overnight, but were no longer able to after height barriers had been erected about two years ago, she said.

Mrs Wotherspoon said: “The contractor who empties the bins during the week have been told not to empty the bins at the site until after 7am.

“We have also relocated the bottle banks in the car park to further reduce the noise impact.”