Tram work diversion noise made Broughton Street resident consider moving

Sandra Murray has lived in her flat in Broughton Street since she was born and says she is so attached to it she feels “part of the bricks”.

However, the 49-year-old freelance jeweller said noise generated by vans, lorries and other heavy vehicles passing through Broughton and Albany streets following the closure of York Place was so bad that she had considered moving.

She said she had a last-minute change of heart after the Evening News took up the case and she received a call from council officials yesterday afternoon to say that night-time refuse and recycling collections at restaurants and bars in the area would cease.

However, she insisted noise levels in the already busy thoroughfare were much higher since York Place was closed to cars, taxis and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on Saturday morning.

Ms Murray said: “It’s quite a bit noisier than it was before. There are recycling vans. Sometimes there are trucks and lorries, HGVs – it’s in the early evening and through the night. I have had to put in ear plugs.

“There’s always horns beeping – possibly because [the diversion] hasn’t been well signposted and people do not realise what is going on.”

She added: “You are out all day and you come in and want some peace but there’s noise all day and all night.”

Ms Murray said she has lived in the flat all her life and shared the rent with her mother, Vera Mary, who died three years ago. She said she was devastated at the thought of leaving.

“I feel part of the bricks,” she added. “I love this house. It’s just beautiful.”

Ms Murray said higher noise levels as a result of diverted traffic were “the straw that broke the camel’s back” and came after she spent the best part of a year complaining to the city council about night-time rubbish and recycling pick-ups.

She said: “Through the night you had collection vans that came up Broughton Street – all through the night, between one and four in the morning. I was on the phone to so many people in the council. I was on to licensing and environmental health, noise control and the police.

“Environmental health said they could not help because it’s not in their remit. The police said it was the job of the council. The council said they’re doing all they can and they would occasionally send a monitoring officer. I was being treated like an idiot.”

A city council spokeswoman said: “We are aware of Ms Murray’s complaint about the noise created by the temporary traffic diversions during the tramworks on York Place. We take all noise complaints very seriously and will make every effort to minimise disruption.

“The purpose of the project is to deliver modern and efficient transport which itself creates less noise than other vehicles and we are grateful for the cooperation of the residents while we work towards this.”