A sleep-deprived Christmas for south Bristol

Residents in south Bristol are preparing themselves for a sleep-deprived Christmas thanks to ongoing noise disruption from MetroBus works being carried out by Network Rail in Ashton Vale.

The deafening piling and drilling work has already prompted complaints from people living in the surrounding area, and is set to continue on Christmas morning from as early as 3am. 

Although the site near South Liberty Lane is not close enough to residential areas to warrant a written warning from Network Rail – homes must be within 250 metres of a site to be notified – a large number of residents in nearby Ashton Vale, Bedminster and Long Ashton have filed official complaints about the distress and sleep-deprivation the noise has caused in recent weeks.

The sound travelling across Bedminster Down to the residential areas beyond, which some have described as a “deafening grinding of metal”, is the result of the piledriving work taking place as part of the South Bristol Link section of the MetroBus project, which will carry passengers between Bristol Temple Meads and Weston-super-Mare. 

Alice Cranston lives in Ashton Vale with her young daughter, and is distraught at the lack of correspondence about the disruptive works: “There was no word of what was going on until I got in touch with Network Rail, and even then they couldn’t tell me when the noise would stop. For families who don’t use social media or go online much, it must have been a real shock.”

“This was going to be my first Christmas with my daughter in our new home in Ashton, and she specifically asked that we spend this year at home together. Now I’m thinking that won’t be possible, and I’ll have to break the news to her that we’re going to have to go away and stay with family. I just can’t be woken up at 3am on Christmas morning.”

Last week Network Rail issued an apology to residents following a flood of complaints, putting a recent change in wind direction down as the cause of sound disruption in residential areas. 

The letter went on to outline plans for continued work, stating: “We will be working throughout the Christmas period from 9pm on December 24 until 5am on December 27. However, we will only be piling (which is the noisy work) from 3am Christmas morning until 3pm Christmas afternoon.”

A spokesperson for Network Rail said: “We fully understand that some aspects of this work can be noisy and where we can we do try to minimise the impact on our lineside neighbours as much as possible.”

“However, on occasion, night-time and holiday working is unavoidable as some parts of the construction can only take place when trains aren’t running for safety reasons.”

Work on the £200 million MetroBus project, which aims to improve movement around the city, will continue well into the new year. Overnight closures and speed restrictions on sections of the M32 will be in place from early January to allow for the construction of the Bus Only Junction.

For more information, visit www.travelwest.info/metrobus.