Loud row over noise

RESIDENTS in Main Beach say they are being woken at 5am to “horrific” noise, “car doors slamming” and “reverse sensor alarms” without proper warning from the council.

Division 10 Councillor Darren Taylor shared a post to Facebook notifying residents that regulated building work would be carried out at 3550 Main Beach Pde from 6am to 6.30am until June 18.

Cr Taylor said residents were being sent notification in the mail about the early works, which were limited to pre-start checks of the construction site.

“No other building work is to be carried out on the site outside of normal working hours,” he added.

The post attracted a flood of complaints from residents after it was shared to a Facebook community group. Many said the noise woke them from 5am.

Others said they did not receive warning from council about earlier work being allowed. “The traffic and noise is just horrific,” one Main Beach resident told the Bulletin.

“When they started at 5am the other day I got up and filmed it and sent it to council and said ‘this is going on’.

“I didn’t know because we weren’t advised.”

The woman’s video showed several large, noisy trucks and a crane outside the Dune development. A spokeswoman said it had council approval to start earlier on the day.

The resident, who asked not to be named, feared the early morning noise would be a long-term problem with several other high-rises cropping up on Main Beach Pde.

“Where does this end? In 10 years’ time do we finally get a good night’s sleep?”

A council spokeswoman said City officers investigated complaints about building work noise “based on merits”.

“The Environmental Protection Act and council’s Local Law 8 allow audible building work noise between 6.30am and 6.30pm, Monday to Saturday,” she said.

“Council may issue permits under Local Law 8 which allows noise from building work to be created on building sites outside these hours. The City issued a permit in this case that allows for pre-start safety checks at this site from 6am.”