I’ve had no peace for two years as builders leave my house shaking so badly pictures fall off the walls
A MUM has been left living in a two-year nightmare as her home shakes so much that pictures fall off the walls.
Cerone Newton, 35, lives with her eight-year-old daughter in the shadow of Goscote House in Leicester, East Midlands, which is being demolished.
Cerone, who suffers from hip issues that often leave her unable to leave the house, says that the work has been driving her “crazy” and even causing cracks in her walls.
She told Leicestershire Live: “I’ve had no peace for years, our house is shaking, things fall off the walls, we’re getting cracks.
“I now have a line through my kitchen, it was not there before.
“It’s because of the shaking. I’ve reached the point where some days it drives me absolutely crazy.
“They’ve started work at 6.45 in the morning before. They sometimes work weekends. As soon as they get here they turn the machinery on. From about 7am you have generators on and working.”
She added that the early mornings are “not nice” even though she’s more used to them now.
What Cerone was not used to was when she was allegedly left without water for six hours after an incident on the demolition site.
The issue meant she was unable to use the loo, wash or even make a drink for much of the day.
The fuming resident continued: “My daughter said to me ‘I can’t do this anymore’.
“Her bedroom is at the back [facing the site], some days she doesn’t even want to be in my house.
“She can’t cope with the constant noise. She can’t go out in the garden, she’s petrified of the machinery.
“We can’t use our back garden anyway because there is dust everywhere.”
She also claimed that the problems had forced her to consider moving, but her disability means she needs to be close to shops and she already has a good relationship with her neighbours.
Cerone said that she has contacted both the council and her housing association, PA Housing, but that the issues had not been resolved.
She explained: “We’re living an absolute nightmare right now, but nobody cares.
“I’ve been arguing with [PA Housing] for two years about this. I’ve had enough. But they just say we have to take it up with the council.
“I pay them rent. The council would have gone to them about this. Why have they not helped us or made it clear at the start what this would put us through?
“Did no one think about how our lives would be disrupted?…Why are we paying full rent to have our things fall off our walls, to have our homes shaken, to live with no peace?”
‘NIGHTMARE’
PA Housing apologised for the disruption caused and accepted that they should have done more when first approached.
They have promised to send a surveyor to Cerone’s home to inspect the damage.
Sally-Anne Underhill, head of housing services at PA Housing, said: “We’re sorry our resident is facing disruption from neighbouring demolition works.
“This is not a PA Housing construction site, but it is clear this is having a significant impact on our tenant’s life. We should have done more to help when our tenant first contacted us with their concerns and we apologise for that.
“We will follow up with the local authority and the developer as needed, based on our surveyor’s report.
“In addition, our Neighbourhood Co-ordinator will also arrange to visit our tenant to discuss access to their garden and to help as needed in their discussions with Leicester City Council.”
Meanwhile, Simon Nicholls, housing head of service at Leicester City Council, said that work is almost finished on the site, but disputed Cerone’s claims about unsociable working hours.
He said: “The demolition team has taken great care to minimise disruption and communicated well with neighbouring residents, and as a result of their careful management of the site very few complaints have been received over this 18-month period.
“Operating hours for the site are 8am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and we are satisfied this has been adhered to. We’ve had no complaints about the generator or about work starting early, and our noise control team has also had no complaints.
“We can confirm that a water pipe was damaged during the site clearance, which Seven Trent responded to on the same day. We are sorry for the inconvenience this caused.
“We appreciate that the demolition work will inevitably have had an impact on nearby residents and we very much appreciate their patience and co-operation over the past 18 months.”
He added that work is now underway to tidy up the site for it to be handed back to the council in late June.