MOTORWAY widening works have caused a catalogue of problems for a local village.

An extra lane is being created along the M25 between Junctions 16 and 23 and work has started to create a five metre high bund in a field bordering the motorway to provide some shielding to homes in Bricket Wood.

But residents living near to the piece of land concerned, known as the Donkey Field, have complained of unbearable noise, dust and vibrations since work started within the past few weeks.

And a nudist camp, Fiveacres Country Club, has been severely affected by the works which have reportedly seen workmen overlooking the site on top of the problems that local residents have experienced.

The issues were raised at a St Stephen Parish Council meeting last night (Thursday) in which councillors grilled representatives from the joint venture carrying out the work, Skanska Balfour Beatty (SBB).

Council chairman Bill Pryce asked the representatives why the potential impacts on the business were not flagged up during the initial site appraisal. He told them that the problems are such that members of the club are withdrawing their membership from the site.

Jerry Clark, project director for SBB, conceded that the potential problems arising from the proximity of the works to the country club should perhaps have been identified sooner and said the site is not clearly marked on maps.

But, while he admitted that the construction had not got off to a good start, he promised that the situation would improve with the machinery moving further away from the country club’s peripheries and a reduction in noise.

He said that the level of noise and vibrations from the site were bound by regulations but insisted that the company was looking into putting in place a one way system on the site in order to reduce the noise nuisance caused by machinery and vehicles reversing.

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