Intrusive noise from ASDA warehouse disturbing nearby residents

Nearby resident Stuart Sawle says the noise is 'strangely intrusive'

Residents close to the ASDA warehouse at Kingsway Business Park are concerned about the level of noise disturbance from the warehouse.

Nearby resident Stuart Sawle said: "The noise from the warehouse is strangely intrusive. It is low frequency and is felt rather than heard. It seems to affect different people in different ways. A visitor to my house found it very uncomfortable whilst I could not hear or feel it at all."

Four councillors, Dale Mulgrew, Richard Farnell, Phillip Bethell and Cecile Biant have signed a letter sent to ASDA outlining their concerns for the local community.

ASDA says it is taking the problem very seriously, and has been working with an environmental health officer from Rochdale Council and has invited residents on site to answer any questions they have and show them what they are doing to attempt to rectify the situation.

A spokeswoman for ASDA said: "Unfortunately, there has been a teething problem on the new site and we've been working hard to resolve the issue with the construction company and environmental health as quickly as we can. In the meantime, we have minimised the noise and have been keeping our neighbours up to date.

"We’re sorry to residents who may have been disturbed by the temporary issue, and can assure them we are doing all we can to make this right."

A spokesman for Rochdale Council said: “The Council is aware of the concerns of residents and has been working with representatives of ASDA and Wincanton (site operators) to try and to resolve this issue. The Council’s Public Protection Service specialises in noise pollution and has intimate knowledge of the facility which has aided discussions to find a solution to help reduce the noise burden.

“This was a major investment in Rochdale by ASDA and the design and layout of the development was carefully considered by ASDA and the Council to minimise disturbance to residents. The present situation is unfortunate but we’d ask residents to be assured we are working to bring the issue to a satisfactory conclusion.”

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The letter sent by councillors...

Dear Sir/Madam

RE: ASDA WAREHOUSE LOCATED AT KINGSWAY BUSINESS PARK

I write with regret to express community concerns on behalf of a neighbourhood which borders onto an ASDA warehouse located at the Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale. This warehouse was only recently built by Maclaren construction and was seen as a flagship facility for the Asda Company. This distribution facility has a contract for logistical support with the Wincanton firm. Ever since this warehouse facility started operating there have been issues and concerns about the noise emanating from it. The surrounding neighbours have expressed their concerns to several parties connected with this warehouse with a view to trying to resolve such matters. These include the warehouse manager, the Kingsway Business Park Management Group, Rochdale Council’s Environmental Health Service and also local representatives of the Wincanton Organisation.

Thus far there has been a listening ear from the management of the warehouse, to the extent where they are cognisant of the sound issues. They have also been responsive at times to local residents when instances of sound pollution have been reported to them - this has been reflected in changes to the operations, shifts and practices at the warehouse.

Moreover, it also included the facilitation of a site visit for local ward Councillors, representatives of the Council’s Environmental Health, and the local residents who are affected. All these developments were welcome, but there does not seem to be much feedback to neighbours from warehouse managers or any further resolution to such matters.

Also, recently there has been an increase in noise levels from the warehouse as the generators were switched to diesel power because of an electrical breakdown. Clearly neighbours reluctantly accepted noise disturbances through the construction of the warehouse, but did not anticipate such noise disturbances continuing through the operational life of the facility.

Thus, I have escalated this correspondence to a more senior level so that this matter can be taken more seriously.

There is a deduction that the sound attenuation measures in place are not sufficient and satisfactory to reduce the sound pollution further. I have asked the Council’s Environmental Health officer who specialises in noise pollution and who has intimate knowledge of the facility to formulate suggestions to help reduce the noise pollution which bounces into this neighbourhood (these are listed at the end of this letter).

These suggestions are presented for your consideration, as it is felt they will help alleviate the problem.

Finally, I appreciate your consideration of this matter and the letter really is on two levels: firstly to express a community apprehension that the issue continues without any conclusion in sight, and also to propose alternative solutions which might bring a better resolution to this issue.

I await your response and feedback with great interest and if you would like to organise a meeting at the ASDA warehouse with local residents to consider the below proposals, this might be a step that would be welcome by all.

Recommendations to improve the sound situation at ASDA warehouse

1. During the meeting it became apparent that the site was operating without the elevated/distinctive noise levels for large portions of the week, which appears to suggest that there are operational differences occurring on the site, whereby one procedure is providing the operational needs of the site without disturbing residents in noise sensitive properties, and another is not. Using the information contained on log sheets and emails from complainants, it may be possible to pin point what the operational difference is and put alternative procedures in place. This may be the grouping of units together to chill simultaneously, creating a line

source of noise, rather than a point source of noise. This could be important as a line source of noise reduces by 3dB per doubling of distance from the source compared to a point source of noise which reduces 6 dB per doubling of distance from the source.

2. Following the meeting held at ASDA distribution, residents were able to identify what they felt was the source of the noise as the fans serving the cooling units on the trailers prior to loading and departure, ASDA/Wincanton may look into measures that can be made to the cooling unit to reduce the noise produced.

3. It is my understanding that the current acoustic barrier has been positioned to reduce noise levels to those set out in the planning consent from the whole site, in particular the fixed plant of the truck wash and re-fuelling of the units (which the barrier is next to) As discussed at the meeting the noise monitoring undertaken by both Wright Young Green (consultants working for McClarans) and RMBC showed the noise levels leaving the site were within those set out in the planning consent. However complaints are still being received. In light of the complaints ASDA could look into a secondary acoustic barrier in one of two places:-

* Close to the loading bays, whilst still allowing operational activities.

* On the bund at the rear of Verdant way, with the addition of evergreen planting to screen the visual impact of an acoustic barrier.

NB: it is my understanding that both the above measures would require planningconsent.