Call to cut hours at Olympic site

Hackney council has said it has "not received any new complaints''

Residents are demanding a further reduction in working hours on the Olympic site in east London to cut "relentlessness" noise and dust levels.

A soil washing machine operates on the site for more than 12 hours a day.

Last month this work was reduced by two hours after complaints from people in Leebank Square, Stratford, but now they want work to begin after 7am.

Olympic Delivery Authority said it was monitoring noise levels and "very few" breaches have been reported.

Residents are demanding the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) begin their work after 7am.

Shonna Abantu Choudhury, a local resident, said: "It starts at seven each morning and so some of us are up already but some of the residents are not so its their rudest sort of alarm clock that they can ever hope for.

You can see it (dust) in the air on dry days Nadira Choudhury

He added the machine's "relentlessness" noise carries on until 8pm.

His wife Nadira Choudhury said: "I could clean stuff indoors in the flat and it can just be coated (with dust) within 24 hours literally.

"You can see it in the air on dry days. There is no water suppression going on which the ODA keep telling us they are doing but its blatantly not true."

Noise monitored

In September the ODA cut back work at the site by two hours, finishing at 8pm rather than 10pm, in response to complaints from residents.

Howard Shipley from the ODA said: "We have a huge number of vehicles and heavy equipment designed specifically to water down all of the whole roads on the site to reduce dust.

"We monitor noise levels with monitoring equipment and they are aware of that because we have placed monitoring equipment within their community.

"We have very few what we call exceedences, that is where we exceed the agreed noise levels that have been agreed and set."

Hackney council said they had not had any complaints about the dust or noise since 2 September.

A statement said: "We have received no complaints about dust or noise since then. Contractors have assured the Council that they have stuck to 8pm limit."