Noisy neighbour must learn to shut up

Dear Spurtle

The issue surrounding Sunday deliveries to cash-and-carry giant Batleys (54 depots in England, seven in Scotland) is a relatively simple matter. This enterprise operates in the midst of a 99% residential area of flats and tidy houses and gardens, the exception being an adjacent small car rental business on McDonald Place. It is an island in a sea of homes.

While not an ideal arrangement for such a neighbourhood, as residents we accept that it will conduct business in a reasonable manner commensurate with the nature of its surroundings. To extend its mandate of delivery hours to include Sunday is outwith 'reasonable', meaning that six days from early morning until evening is quite enough.

Local residents on McDonald Street across from Batleys' entrance are all too familiar with lorries arriving any time from 0530–0700 to park across the residential parking bays with motors running outside bedroom windows, then revving their engines to manoeuvre back and forth to approach Batleys' entrance. Residents around the corner on Bellevue and McDonald Roads are equally familiar with very large lorries trying to negotiate the tight corners to gain access to these narrow streets, creating noise, congestion and concern for private vehicles. It is not a happy compromise by any means.

That Batleys suggests that the Council is somehow 'responsible' for hampering its trading conditions on Sundays is disingenuous and a heavy-handed response. The Council's obligation is to balance the commercial and residential needs of the community, mostly through zoning laws. In this instance it is simply stating that Monday–Saturday is fine (though not entirely with the neighbourhood), but that there is no hardship or unreasonable denial of access of 36 hours from Saturday night until Monday morning. 

We object to Sunday truck traffic for the same reasons that building construction is not allowed on Sundays: noise, congestion, and unreasonable intrusion into private lives. We would also like to see traffic regulations enforced to prevent these noisy huge trucks from parking at unreasonable hours with their attendant noise and inconsiderate manoeuvering at the expense of the overwhelmingly residential area.

Faithfully yours

David J. Bellak
Chairman/Bellevue House Owners' Association (14 properties)