Residents fear noise as South Bristol tip workers to start at 6am

Residents in South Bristol fear they will be disturbed early in the morning by noise from a nearby tip.

New plans mean workers at the Hartcliffe Way Reuse and Recycling Centre will start their day at 6am every weekday.

The recycling centre opened in June last year, but Bristol Waste has now got permission to let its staff access the site from 6am.

Access for the public would remain from 8am, but the earlier hours for workers have prompted concerns from people living nearby.

Work early in the morning would include getting out street cleansing vehicles and emptying skips.

Bristol City Council approved the plans on Wednesday 8 March.

Ahead of the meeting, several residents wrote to the council to encourage the committee to decline the plans.

One neighbour said: “Nothing further has been added to ensure that an earlier opening of the site does not continue to disrupt local people. This site is already causing noise disruption. This is happening already at the existing start times.”

Another added: “The noise from the facility is already loud, too loud for a residential area. It already begins very early in the day and is of course worse in the summer when windows need to be left open overnight.”

Several neighbours living on Novers Hill and Headley Lane submitted formal objections to the planning application, but noise experts at the council have said the early morning work would not cause a nuisance or noise above current background levels in the surrounding area.