Sleepless nights for residents due to noisy Shrewsbury town centre demolition work

Contractors have been busy levelling parts of the Riverside area of the town on behalf of Shropshire Council this week – in preparation for a major re-development project.

But, residents say their sleep has been interrupted throughout the week, describing 'heavy hammering' going on until 3.45am.

Shropshire Council has apologised for the disruption, and said it had asked its contractor to not to carry out anymore night work until it has guarantees over the volume of the work.

Harry Wilson, who's home overlooks Shrewsbury Bus Station, which is next to the area, said there was no warning that work was starting on Monday night and the first time he became aware of the demolition was a ‘terrible noise’ at 10.30pm.

He said the racket resulted in his dog ‘going spare’.

Mr Wilson, an architect, said: "The noise was louder than fireworks. It was a constant heavy hammering which went on until 3.45am.

"There were three or four pauses of 10 minutes or so during the five and a half hours of hammering.

“On Tuesday I went into the Darwin Centre where the council have an exhibition featuring the Riverside. I was unable to complain to the council representative, but he gave me a phone number for the contractors.

"The contractors said they finished at 5pm and gave me the site manager’s mobile number.

“I rang when the noise started again at around 11pm last night and all he said was ‘nothing we can do, sorry’.

"I said ‘you obviously don’t care about the residents' and he just said sorry. The hammering continued until 5am and for the second night running my wife and I couldn’t sleep.

“Why can’t this work commence earlier, at say 5.30pm, and finish at 11pm.

"When planning applications which are likely to adversely affect neighbours with noise there is usually a condition that no work takes place between 8pm and 8am."

The issue has also been raised by Shrewsbury's Copthorne Councillor, Rob Wilson, who said residents had been "complaining about noise throughout the night for the last two nights".

He said he had contacted the council to get confirmation over what was happening.

He said: "Residents understand there will be disruption from major work but they are upset they did not know what it was, when it was and what impact it will have on them.

"I have been getting a lot of messages about this over the past few days."

A spokesman for Shropshire Council said: "We’re aware that noise resulting from the work carried out on Monday night caused concern and disturbance for some residents generating several complaints.

"We’ve discussed the matter with our contractor, who have been instructed not to undertake any further works in the evening or overnight, until the necessary assurances have been given that noise disturbance will be mitigated as far as possible and be within recommended levels.

"Some additional night works will need to take place, over two nights on Thursday 19 and Monday, September 23, to remove the remaining steel beams to the existing footbridges.

"Unfortunately, this can only be done during the night as the Raven Meadows road and car park need to be closed for the works to take place.

"The timing of the works has been changed to ensure it takes place between 7pm and midnight and where possible all noisy works will be carried out in daytime hours.

"The remaining night time works will be quieter in nature than the recent works. Beyond this the remaining works will be within daytime working hours.

"Shropshire Council apologises for any inconvenience that works have caused to date and will continue to monitor the situation."

The council said all demolition works are due to be completed by January 2025.