THE impact of a building site on a group of Dunfermline residents has been likened to “water torture”.

Dunfermline North councillor William Campbell said residents’ peace was shattered by workers on Campion Homes’ Paton Street site who regularly start before 8am and are on site on weekends too.

Fed-up residents of Kingseat Road, Balvaird Place, Craigmyle Street and Adamson Crescent told him of constant noise and shaking caused by the development.

“There’s always a condition of planning saying that they shouldn’t start before 8am but they are regularly starting a fair bit before that,” he told the Press.

“A lot of the people who live nearby are quite elderly and it has got to the stage where they are simply anticipating that they are going to be operating on a daily basis before 8am.

“If this was occasional, people may just put up with it but it has the drip, drip, drip effect of a water torture.”

Cllr Campbell met Bellyeoman Community Council who expressed several concerns with the site.

As well as early starts and weekend working, they believe traffic access isn’t being managed, leading to traffic congestion, while heavy equipment – particularly pile driving – is causing noise and vibration.

The community council said local residents were seeking reassurance that heights of the homes were in accordance with approved design, that retaining wall and fence construction was as planned and that neighbouring gardens have not been affected by ground works.

Community council chairperson Wilma Allday said: “When you have a building site in an area that is so populated as this one, you have got to be a bit more considerate,” she said.

“Residents are absolutely fed up of it. I live about half a mile away from it and I can hear the noise.”

A spokesman for Campion Homes said the building site was zoned for housing in the Local Plan and their planning permission did not contain a condition relating to working hours.  

He added: “We are self-policing working reasonable hours as much as possible, we continue to work closely with Fife Council representatives from both environmental health and planning enforcement, who are satisfied we are carrying out all works in full accordance with our permission.”

He said recent soil movement work was carried out, with appropriate banksmen and road cleaning plant in attendance, on a Saturday morning to avoid periods when children will be in the vicinity going to and from school.   

He added that they would continue to meet with residents and that house heights were as approved.

Cllr Campbell said he intends to ensure tighter guidelines are imposed in the future.

“The next time I am sitting in the planning meeting and asked to approve a planning application saying no work will start before 8am, I am going to start questioning that.

"If that doesn’t mean what it seems to mean, then I think we have to start thinking what else we can do to make sure residents are protected.”

Alastair Hamilton, from Fife Council, said a condition applied to Campion Homes’ consent which required a scheme of works to be agreed to limit the disturbance and disruption to neighbours which might arise from noise and dust during the construction period.

“The scheme of works specifies that noisy activity will be restricted between the working hours of 8am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on a Saturday with all plant and machinery fitted with noise suppression equipment,” he explained.

“The Planning Service continues to enforce the terms of this scheme of works in collaboration with colleagues in Environmental Health, with any breaches raised with Campion Homes and the Site Manager.”