Residents in coronavirus lockdown near Sudbury say their lives are being made a misery by noise and vibration from a building development next to their homes.

East Anglian Daily Times: Tony Foster in the back garden of his home in Chilton, near Sudbury, where residents say their lives are being blighted by noise and vibration from pile driving work on a nearby building site. Picture: TONY FOSTERTony Foster in the back garden of his home in Chilton, near Sudbury, where residents say their lives are being blighted by noise and vibration from pile driving work on a nearby building site. Picture: TONY FOSTER (Image: Tony Foster)

Householders in St Mary’s Close in Chilton say their houses are shaking from the pile driving work on the 130 home scheme on a six hectare site off Waldingfield Road.

Chilton Parish Council chairman Lady Valerie Hart, whose Chilton Hall home overlooks the site, said noise from the pile driving could be heard in Acton more than two miles away.

She said: “This is just the first phase of a three phase operation and it needs to be established with the developers what method of pile driving they are going to be using moving forward, as the disruption that people have had to endure so far is just not on.

“Because of self-isolation people are stuck in their houses and can’t use their gardens. It’s causing a lot of upset.”

East Anglian Daily Times: Plans for the 130 home scheme on the site of the former orchard off Waldingfield Road at Chilton, near Sudbury Picture: URBAN DESIGN BOX / BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCILPlans for the 130 home scheme on the site of the former orchard off Waldingfield Road at Chilton, near Sudbury Picture: URBAN DESIGN BOX / BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL (Image: UDB)

St Mary’s Close resident Tony Foster, whose house overlooks the development, is also a parish councillor.

He said he believed the contractors working for developers Anderson were employing a hammer technique to pile drive and not the quieter augering system they had initially understood would be used.

“They are driving concrete posts about 15 metres long into the ground and when they do so the whole house rattles and vibrates,” he said.

East Anglian Daily Times: Lady Valerie Hart, whose Chilton Hall home overlooks the scheme. Picture: PHIL MORLEYLady Valerie Hart, whose Chilton Hall home overlooks the scheme. Picture: PHIL MORLEY

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“It’s very difficult having to live with this throughout the day when everyone is having to self-isolate.”

Fellow resident Martin Brody said: “The noise has been awful and the vibration so bad that ornaments and books on shelves were moving, pictures on the wall were rattling.

“It was like a train running through the building.”

The site is on a former orchard and was granted planning permission by Babergh District Council last year despite objections from bodies including Historic England, The Gardens Trust and the Sudbury Society.

The housing will consist of mostly two and three-bedroom units, with 85 for sale on the open market and 45 low-cost dwellings.

The site is adjacent to the proposed 1,150 home Chilton Woods development.

A spokesman for Chelmsford-based Anderson said it was in discussion with key stakeholders about the issue but did not wish to comment further.