We live in newbuild just 9ft from 70mph A-road – we fought council and won over noise that’s louder than a rock concert
RESIDENTS living in a doomed new build housing estate where noise from a nearby road is louder than a rock concert fought the council and won.
But those on James Munday Close near Coleshill have now been warned not to eat any home-grown vegetables – because their soil could be poisonous.
Locals already have to cope with traffic thundering past on a dual carriageway.
It makes their fences shake and caused some residents to wear ear-plugs while inside their “dream homes”.
Jackie and James McCormack finally won their court case against the council after moving into their dream three-bed new-build property in February 2021.
Within a day the pair realised their £325,000 home – just nine feet from a busy A road – was completely unliveable.
When The Sun visited the grandparents at their property in Coleshill, Warwickshire, noise levels smashed 85 decibels when a wagon rattled past.
Now North Warwickshire Borough Council has warned the soil in their gardens may be poisoned after samples were tested.
Sharon Gallagher, the Council’s Acting Environmental Health Manager, wrote in a letter to residents: “The report identified three polyaromatic hydrocarbons above screening levels.”
“Prior to obtaining additional information to refine the risk assessment precautionary measures could be taken by residents such as not consuming food crops grown in the garden, taking measures to avoid tracking soil into the house, avoiding excavation of the ground and avoiding ingestion of soil.”
One resident, who did not want to be named, said: “We actually asked for assurances before we bought the property that the soil was not contaminated.
“The site used to be a garage with underground fuel storage so this may explain it.
“This is another blow when we are already having to cope with the noise from the dual carriageway but hopefully the Council will take remedial action.”
The Council said further tests would be carried out but their recommendation applied to all residents on the site.
They have offered a question and answer session for residents at the Council House to explain the situation further.
The development of nine, smart detached homes, sits to the side of Lichfield Road.
It is a stretch of road that becomes a dual carriageway for just half-a-mile before a roundabout but, with no speed cameras and a slight incline, everyone steps on the gas.
When SunOnline visited last year, the volume in the garden measured well above the 120 decibels heard at a rock concert.
Health experts advise ear protection if working in environments above this reading – which is equivalent to some power tools.
One couple who bought a property on the development launched a legal challenge against the Council when they discovered just how bad the noise was.
Jackie and James McCormack told how they had to wear earplugs thanks to the traffic.
They had put a goal in their garden for their grandson but that had become a no-go zone due to the traffic thundering past just yards away.
The couple were mocked when it emerged they had viewed the property seven times but now they have become the toast of the Close after winning their claim following a 17-month struggle.
It emerged planners had not assessed the development for noise before giving it the green light.
Now the Council has written to residents promising to wrap an acoustic fence around the development, triple glaze their windows and improve their ventilation systems.
A contaminated land claim was thrown out but the new development with the poisoned soil means the McCormack’s may have been right all along.
Jordan, one of Jackie’s neighbours, who moved in in 2020 said: “She took a lot of flak but now we are all benefiting.
“We all hope the fence and the windows will make a difference because the noise is bad. It is hard to hold a conversation at the front.
“Jackie has it worst because her garden is right next to the dual carriageway but it is very noisy for all of us.”
Another neighbour restauranteur Fernando Silva, 47, said: “I am glad the Council is doing something but I don’t understand why they don’t cut the speed limit.
“It is a short stretch of road and if it was a 40 or a 50 the noise would be more bearable.
“It is because there are no cameras and some go well over the 70mph speed limit.
“The motorbikes are the noisiest and the HGVs make the fences shake.”
Those living on another development, Grimstock Avenue, which is just yards away from James Munday Close on the same stretch of the A446, want to know why they have been offered nothing.
Jayne Snelson, 66, who moved onto the cul-de-sac with husband Robert, 71, just before Jacqui’s house was built, said: “We are just as close as she is and we have been offered nothing. We should have made a fuss because we’d take anything to lower the volume.
“You can sit outside for a bit then the noise cracks you up. It is relentless.”
The couple moved into their home after relocating from Cyprus and had not appreciated just how noisy the road was.
But there will be no acoustic fence or triple glazing for them.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for North Warwickshire Borough Council said: “In general, North Warwickshire Borough Council has agreed that the noise condition was not discharged properly and has apologised to those who have contacted us.
“The Council has offered to implement the works that would have been required via the noise condition at its own expense. This offer was not initially taken up but is now progressing.
“Despite the initial mistake, the Ombudsman has commended the Council on its work to rectify the mistake and the Council has gone beyond what the Ombudsman has required them to do.”
In relation to Grimstock Avenue, she added: “Each planning application is considered in its own context. It is worth noting that planning permission for the houses at this location was first granted in 2008 and the Ombudsman has concluded that the Council was not at fault with regard to that scheme.”