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Evidence of noise investigations regarding planning application 18/01259/FUL at 250 Toddington Road

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Dear Luton Borough Council,

Noise investigations relating to planning applications, as stated by Environmental Protection, are supposed to be witnessed from the nearest residential receptor of noises home (which is our house) and decibel level readings and high frequency level readings are supposed to be taken from a top floor window facing the noise nuisance. Readings should be taken of each noise nuisance, i.e. banging with hammers, cutting with power tools, high pitched beeping, noise from lorrys, noise from cranes, etc., all carried out outside directly opposite our home. As of today's date the only time this has taken place was in 2015 when the council took readings and confirmed in writing that the high pitched beeping of mobile vehicles which was 68db (which they again confirmed as being a noise nuisance in writing in a planning application on the 3rd April 2017) and the banging with hammers and cutting with power tools which was up to 78db when it should be no more than 35db are they are all persistent invasive statutory noise nuisances.

In planning application 18/01259/FUL for GCL at 250 Toddington Road, Environmental Protection have alleged that they carried out an investigation at 6.45am and 10.00am and witnessed nothing, but have failed to show any actual evidence including a date to prove that these investigations took place and the residents have no knowledge of these investigations taking place.

Can you please provide that following evidence urgently:-

Can you please send us a list of the 2 alleged noise investigations witnessed from residents homes and for each investigation tell us the date and stop and start time of when it took place, the address that it was witnessed from, the position in the house of where it was witnessed, the exact noises that were witnessed, the decibel level readings of each noise nuisance and the high frequency readings of each noise nuisance.

We need this evidence urgently for a current planning application.

The residents look forward to seeing this evidence as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,

M Hammond

Dear Luton Borough Council,

I have not received a reply to my request for information, which should have been answered by law as per the Freedom Of Information Act by the 28th February 2019. Can you please send me the information that I have asked for urgently as it needs to be included in a current planning application as evidence.

Yours faithfully,

M Hammond

Dear Luton Borough Council,

It has now been 54 days since I made my request for evidence that should be readily available in a planning application. You are legally required by law to answer with 20 days therefore please send me this evidence as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,

M Hammond

Dear Luton Borough Council,

It has now been 69 days since I asked for this evidence. If you do not send me the evidence I have requested by 15.04.19 then I will have no alternative but to make an official complaint to the Information Commissioner.

Yours faithfully,

M Hammond

LBC Feedback, Luton Borough Council

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Dear M Hammond,

 

Please see attached in respect of your FOI Request.

 

Kind regards

Complaints and Information Governance Team

Business Intelligence Unit

Luton Borough Council

Town Hall, LU1 2BQ

Phone; 01582 546398

Email: [Luton Borough Council request email]

[1]www.luton.gov.uk

 

 

 

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LBC Feedback, Luton Borough Council

Dear M Hammond,

 

Please accept my apologies. I have provided an incorrect reference number.
Our correct reference number is B04985.

 

Kind regards

 

Complaints and Information Governance Team

Business Intelligence Unit

Luton Borough Council

Town Hall, LU1 2BQ

Phone; 01582 546398

Email: [Luton Borough Council request email]

[1]www.luton.gov.uk

 

 

 

From: LBC Feedback
Sent: 14 June 2019 17:03
To: '[FOI #549071 email]'
Cc: '[email address]'
Subject: B03024

 

Dear M Hammond,

 

Please see attached in respect of your FOI Request.

 

Kind regards

Complaints and Information Governance Team

Business Intelligence Unit

Luton Borough Council

Town Hall, LU1 2BQ

Phone; 01582 546398

Email: [Luton Borough Council request email]

[2]www.luton.gov.uk

 

 

 

[3]LutonLogo

IMPORTANT: Luton Borough Council routinely monitors the content of e-mail
sent and received by its e-mail systems, to ensure compliance with its
policies and procedures. Messages that breach policy or pose a threat may
be quarantined or deleted. Scanning of this message and addition of this
footer is performed by MailMarshal Secure Email Gateway in conjunction
with virus detection software. The Council is not responsible for any
changes made to the message after it has been sent. This message is
intended only for the addressee. Any unauthorised copying or distribution
may be unlawful. If you have received this email in error please notify
the originator of the message and then delete this message from your
system.

Website: [4]www.luton.gov.uk

Sign up to receive important updates on council
services: [5]luton.gov.uk/emailupdates

[6]Twitter Follow us on Twitter: @Lutoncouncil

[7]Facebook Like us on Facebook: Luton Council

[8]Think Green Before printing, please think about the ENVIRONMENT!

References

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2. http://www.luton.gov.uk/
4. http://www.luton.gov.uk/
5. http://www.luton.gov.uk/emailupdates

Dear LBC Feedback,

I asked "Can you please send us a list of the 2 alleged noise investigations witnessed from residents homes and for each investigation tell us the date and stop and start time of when it took place, the address that it was witnessed from, the position in the house of where it was witnessed, the exact noises that were witnessed, the decibel level readings of each noise nuisance and the high frequency readings of each noise nuisance."

All you have given me is two dates with the stop and start time, you have not provided any actual evidence of noise nuisances being investigated. It does not show the address that it was witnessed from, the position including height in the house of where it was witnessed, the exact noises that were witnessed, the decibel level readings of each noise nuisance and the high frequency readings of each noise nuisance. Therefore please provide me with the evidence that I asked for as above which must surely have been taken during this time, bearing in mind that the actual noise nuisances at both times you have given was unbearable and between 68db to 80db (recorded from inside our house with the window closed – outside would have been even louder). Please bear in mind that in May 2017 Environmental Protection told us that they cannot carry out noise investigations into the noise nuisances that we hear from our house from locations by the side of the road next to the traffic in Toddington Road or Progress Way or Sedgewick Road as the noises heard from those positions are totally different to what we hear from our property, as obviously we are not by the side of the road next to the traffic.

Can you also please check these dates as you have stated Monday 24th May 2018 but 24th May 2018 was on a Thursday.

The dates and times that you have given, in which the council claim they witnessed no noise, do not match with the actual severe noise nuisances that we heard from the premises and recorded from our property and floor vibrations on this date and at these times as follows:-

Monday 24th May 2018 06.45 until 08.15 – Firstly I find it very strange that this was the only day out of 2 weeks that there were no lorrys going in and out of the yard during the time you have given, as per the photo evidence sent to the council last year as evidence of the unregulated working hours, as normally there are lorrys going in and out from at least 6.30am. During the time you have given the noise was unbearable and extremely loud and I have looked back at my video recordings taken on this day from inside my house with the window closed and am totally shocked that you have to have heard no noise as there is no way on earth that you could not have heard it and heard how loud it was especially the non-stop banging and crashing and clanking and beeping. It was mainly between 68db to 80db recorded from inside our house with the window closed when the noise should be no more than 35db with the window open (from outside it would have been louder) and all we could hear from inside our house with the window closed was banging which woke us up at 6.30am, from 7.15am onwards continuous banging and crashing non-stop, from 7.20am screeching, from 7.26am non-stop beeping of GCL's forklift, from 7.36am onwards more continuous beeping, from 7.37am onwards yet more non-stop continuous beeping, from 7.39am banging with a hammer, from 7.41am high pitched cutting with power tools, from 7.45am non-stop beeping of yet another mobile vehicle, from 7.52am onward continuous high pitched cutting with power tools that sounds like cars racing round a track, from 7.55am onwards banging that was so loud the house shook, from 7.58am onwards banging and clanking of metal being thrown on the floor. There is no way you could not have heard these persistent noise nuisances that we could heard from inside our house with the window closed, from our back garden and from our front garden. I do not see any decibel readings of high frequency readings taken by the council of these noise nuisances or where it was witnessed from.

Monday 22nd October 2018 10.00 to 11.00 – During this time the noise was unbearable and mainly between 68db to 80db recorded from inside our house with the window closed when the noise should be no more than 35db with the window open (from outside it would have been louder) and all we could hear from inside our house with the window closed was extremely loud high pitched high frequency continuous non-stop beeping of GCL's forklift, continuous non-stop beeping of numerous other mobile vehicles and numerous lorrys (on many occasions 4 different lots of beeping at the same time), continuous air brakes of lorrys, extremely loud banging and clanking and crashing. I would like to point out that on this day GCL were banging with hammers which only stopped between 9.55am to 11.47am. Also the banging and clanking and crashing was horrendous all day but the noise from both GCL and the company next door did go slightly quieter between 9.55am to 11.00am which just so happened to be the exact time the council came out so they must have been given advance notice of the visit, from 11.01am the noise increased. There was also during this entire time men on top of the unpermitted crane looking into residents properties and invading our privacy and they were using 2 cranes on this day both without planning permission both for unpermitted uses, did the council also not see this as well because as you know this was a breach of the planning application and of the use of the premises and should have been stopped if witnessed by the council. Why did the council not come out to my house to witness the noise? A noise complaint was made to the council later in the afternoon on this day, which was unanswered and nobody came out to witness. We sent the council decibel level readings from this day proving these persistent noise nuisances all day which do not match your report of which we have received no reply.

How can you carry out a noise investigation without providing evidence of what you witnessed, where it was witnessed from, decibel readings, high frequency readings, etc. Surely you must have written down the exact position of where it was investigated from, what you actually witnessed and the exact decibel level and frequency readings otherwise how can it be a valid noise investigation? However I once witnessed Environmental Protection in May 2017 standing up by the side of GCL's yard whilst they were persistently banging with hammers outside which from my side of Toddington Road was over 80db and from Barking Close was over 70db so from where he was standing it would have been over 100db (I have recorded it from there myself previously), yet he had no equipment with him to record the noise or anything to write down what he was witnessing and then later falsely claimed that he witnessed nothing. How can you carry out a proper noise investigation without writing down and taking evidence of what you are witnessing?

As your dates and times in which you claimed you witnessed nothing do not match with the actual noises and unpermitted works that were taking place at the time please provide actual evidence of this taking place including where it was witnessed from, what you witnessed, the decibel readings and high frequency readings of each noise per second.

Video evidence and noise readings per second will be forwarded to the Planning Inspectorate when the planning application is appealed, to prove that your investigations do not match the actual noise nuisances that were taking place at the time.

Can you also please confirm that since May 2017 these are the only 2 days that the council have carried out alleged noise investigations in more than 2 years, as the residents have made over 1,000 noise complaints all of which have been unanswered and nobody has been out to witness. If there are any other dates and times of other investigations that have been carried out please provide evidence of them as above.

Yours sincerely,

M Hammond

LBC Feedback, Luton Borough Council

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We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are M Hammond please sign in and let everyone know.