Dominic Bareham A GREAT Yarmouth hotelier says he is losing trade because of the noise from a building site behind his business.Roger Eagle, of the Chatsworth Hotel in Wellesley Road, said guests in rooms at the back had asked to switch rooms after seeing the construction yard run by contractors T Gill and Son.

Dominic Bareham

A GREAT Yarmouth hotelier says he is losing trade because of the noise from a building site behind his business.

Roger Eagle, of the Chatsworth Hotel in Wellesley Road, said guests in rooms at the back had asked to switch rooms after seeing the construction yard run by contractors T Gill and Son.

He added: “I have had no end of people booking into these rooms, and as soon as they look out of the window and see that lot they ask to change rooms. I have had to put up with it for two summers and it is now running into a third summer. The situation is a hotelier's nightmare, with guests complaining to me because of the noise.”

“One guest left after the first night of a four-night stay because of the noise.”

Mr Eagle, who runs the hotel with his wife Lilowtie, said vehicles turned up at 6.30am on Wednesday last week even though planning permission for the yard stipulated it should not be used before 8am. The noise woke up some customers staying in the eight rooms at the back of the hotel.

He said: “When they turned up at 6.30am that really took the biscuit. The noise was right outside my bedroom window - all this banging and crashing.”

The contractors are working on behalf of the borough council's Sharp project, a regeneration scheme to improve the tourist area around Wellesley Road, Paget Road and Sandown Road.

Previously neglected and empty properties have been brought back into use. Hotel-iers and guest house owners have also received money to give their businesses a facelift, and money has been spent on bringing back traditional railings.

Mike Tabbitt, contract administrator for Sharp, said a vehicle from a skip hire firm had turned up at 6.30am after contractors had called asking for a skip to be removed. But the removal staff arrived early to try to get ahead with their work, although they were aware workers were prohib-ited from arriving on site until 8am. The firm had been warned to keep to the rules.

He added that although the estimated completion time for the project, which began in April 2006, was supposed to be two-and-a-half years, it had run on because there was more work that needed to be done. It was now due for completion in September.

“We have managed to succ-eed in assisting 80 different owners and kept the whole neighbourhood sweet, but unfortunately on this occas-ion, due to reasons beyond our control, one person has got upset,” Mr Tabbitt said.