Entries Tagged 'Ipswich Port Noise Abatement' ↓

The cement ship has been spotted in port, coming in this morning. I noticed a hum at Belstead Avenue at 6.40 in the morning, but it wasn’t that intrusive.
If anyone else notices the hum, or doesn’t notice it, then it would be appreciated if you can let us know. This is going to be a test case for the actions of Southern Cement and the Port of Ipsiwich.

We hope to give a more full account of the port focus group in the near future. We have managed to get Peter Evans, one of the founders of the Noise Action group, appointed to the Port Liaison group. Southern Cement have also fitted a silencer on their unloading machinery. While welcoming this we want to see if the recent quiet spell is due to the silencer or the fact that winter seems to have dampened the noise.

To get on to the Noise Action Group newsletter simply email noise@bridgeward.org.uk

Due to my activity on the Souther Cement I’ve been asked to attend the port focus group.

I will put in a more full account later, but the important piece of news is that the council think that the reason why the noise has reduced is that Southern Cement have installed a silencer.  In the Noise Action Group we are cautiously optimistic but fully aware that last winter the noise was very low as well.

So thank you Southern Cement for the silencer, but we may still have words in April.

Due to my activity with the Noise Action Group, Ipswich Council has invited me and a few other people concerned with the noise to join a newly formed focus group “focus group” made up of residents, councilors and council officers.

While this group will have no power it can help the council form its responses to the various issues arising from the port.  We should try to make this work.  Please could you pass me and concerns you have about the noise from the port or about any other issue that concern the port, and I will pass these concerns on.

My email is james@bridgeward.org.uk

Is it me or are Southern Cement being quieter recently?  I’ve definitely had fewer complaints.

Is it some permanent change that they’ve made, an operational change that can be quickly reversed or is it some environmental factor connected to the weather over which they have no control.

The frustrating thing is that they are not talking to anyone and so we don’t have a clue.

(By the way a big hello to Barclays Bank, who’ve been looking up Southern Cement on the internet recently.  Make sure your Corporate Social Responsibility department get them to talk to the residents.)

I’m just digesting the port noise FAQs that have been put up on the Ipswich Council website.  They’re not easy to find, so here’s a direct link (they are in PDF format, so you’ll have to have Adobe Acrobat).

I’m digesting them now, but here’s something that caught my eye:

The following trials have been carried out:

Now the obvious question is why isn’t Southern Cement letting people know?  If it did that it wouldn’t be so unpopular.  And surely ABP Ipswich, who are going to suffer from this unpopularity and distrust for years to come, could be telling people.

Letters have been dropping through doors in Bridge recently asking people who have expressed interest in the port noise.  The council wants to  set up a port liaison group with ABP, local residents and councillors.  However this coverage have been somewhat inevitably patchy, so if you think you would be good for the port liaison group then contact me at james@bridgeward.org.uk and I will try to pass your details on.

Southern Cement were good for a while with very few complaints, and in the last two unloading they’ve created a racket.  And they were less than a week apart.

Apparently they’ve been chided for their use of contract labour which changes operators regularly.  Looks like they’ve chosen badly this time.  If the operator could speak English at all this time.  They don’t tend to be local, these casually employed operators.

BBC Look East were publicising a public meeting about the Southern Cement noise in Ipswich today.  There is as far as we know no such meeting.

There is a meeting of Babergh district council which is discussing the noise.  Email me if you need any further information.

One thing that is commonly said to the council about the port noise is that the cement hoover has sound proof casing.  Can you see it?  Me neither.

Now, I’m not saying they weren’t doing anything, but if they only talked to the residents – like just about any similar company does – then they would be able to show us what they are doing.  Instead they are leaving themselves to the mercy of telescopic lenses.

Isn’t it funny how the cement ship’s in the day after the public meeting?  I wonder if there was a deliberate delay?

We will be talking about this to the Maidenhall Residents’ Association at the Bowls Pavilion in Halifax Road at 7pm tonight.  (If you are not from Maidenhall then please remember that this will not be solely about the noise).