Neighbours fear noisy workers at South Bristol tip as new plans to start work at 6am

Neighbours fear they will be disturbed early in the morning by noise at a tip in South Bristol. New plans could soon mean workers starting at the Hartcliffe Way Reuse and Recycling Centre from 6am every weekday.

The recycling centre opened in June last year, but Bristol Waste now wants planning 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’s development control B committee will vote on whether to approve the earlier start times at a public meeting on Wednesday, March 8.

Writing to the council, 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 have 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.

Separately, it recently emerged that the Hartcliffe Way centre, as well as the other two tips in Bristol at Avonmouth and St Philips, will close two days a week. This is because Bristol Waste needs to find ways to cut costs as it faces a £4 million gap in its budget.