Keynsham concrete firm’s plea on extended hours

KEYNSHAM company 4Concrete wants its temporary extended hours of operation to be made permanent, despite noise complaints from neighbours.

Bath & North East Somerset Council allowed the firm to start weekday operations at 6.30am instead of 7.30am and finish at 6.30pm instead of 5.30pm on a trial basis, to see if acoustic barriers were effective in reducing the noise.

The trial at the site at Old Station Yard, Avon Mill Lane, began in 2023.

Now the company has applied for permission for the longer hours to be made permanent.

Agents for the company have told B&NES council that the extended hours are “vital to the function of the business and its continued operation.”

They add: “The applicant is willing to enter into further discussions around updating the approved site management plan following a year of operation under the extended hours, and potential enhancements.”

But nearby residents and Keynsham Town Council have called for the company’s application to be rejected.

One comment on the planning portal stated: “As the closest residents to the site, we confirm that early morning noise exceeding the limits was a frequent occurrence and consistent throughout the trial period from August 2023 to August 2024.”

They added that neighbours have provided noise recordings and a professional noise report, but these were said by the B&NES environmental protection team to be invalid or not acceptable as evidence.

Another comment stated: “More than four years since 4Concrete took up residence at the Old Station Yard, we have still not achieved an acceptable level of noise.

“Now we are being asked to accept the extension of hours – when we have proved all year that the set noise limits are constantly being exceeded – during the day as well as during the night hours.

“I find it difficult to discuss just how much of an impact the last four years have had on residents, and particularly those living closest to the yard. Quite honestly, it’s been hard to witness the effect on their health and wellbeing. That is never acceptable, and we ask that this application is rejected.”

Councillor Andy Wait, B&NES councillor for Keynsham, said: “4Concrete have not kept to these extended hours, preferring to continue as before by ignoring their planning conditions and working outside even these extended hours.

“Although, I’m sure, they will continue to break their own planning restrictions, no company should benefit by continuing to disturb their close residential neighbours by their anti-social behaviour, selfishly working noisily outside agreed working hours.”

B&NES Council is due to make a decision on October 2.