An Edinburgh father has hit out at overnight tram works for disturbing the sleep of his family and causing stress for his son and daughter.
Eleazar Do Rego, who works for the Scottish Courts, says that the Trams to Newhaven project has caused nothing but trouble for his family for the past three years. He stays at home with his son who works in construction and his daughter who is employed in the dental industry.
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Eleazar claims that the Trams to Newhaven project has had workers going up and down Constitution Street in their cherry pickers between the hours of 7pm and 7am.
He also tells how workers talk loudly outside his Links Lane home. The disruption has meant that the whole household is struggling with a lack of sleep when they arrive for their jobs each day, says Eleazar.
On the issue, he says: “The whole idea of the Edinburgh Trams coming to Newhaven was for it to be positive for residents in the area.
“It is really frustrating that they are going up and down on two to three cherry pickers and we also have workers speaking loudly outside of the home which makes it very hard to sleep. On Tuesday night they were making an awful noise so I went out to ask them what was going on at around 1am.
“They said that they are doing electrical work but the street has been shut for three years with road closed and diverted routes in place. Why could they not do the same thing for the electrical works so that it can be done during the day?
“But they say that the council has given them permission. I tried to call Trams to Newhaven but I could not get anyone to speak to me, all they did was send me a link to the guidelines for out of hours working rules.”
The father says that he feels as though he has been let down by both the City of Edinburgh Council and those leading the Newhaven trams project. He adds that his neighbours and businesses in the area have also been badly impacted - one being a B&B that cannot offer a quiet night's sleep to guests.
Eleazar addes that not only has the noise impacted his family, with his son and daughter unable to get enough rest for their jobs the next day, but there has also been a rise in antisocial behaviour since the tram works took place on Constitution Street.
He says that since the road was closed down - young graffiti artists have become more brazen and on several occasions have targeted his historically listed home. Eleazar says that he has asked the council to remove the graffiti but they refuse to do so on the grounds that the paint is not offensive.
“We live just off of Constitution Street on Links Lane and after the trams works came to Constitution Street there has been a rise in incidents of graffiti," he says.
“It is disgraceful the target my home and other businesses in the area. I asked the council to clean a wall of our building after it had graffiti sprayed on the side of it.
“But they said they can only clean it if something offensive is written on it. The problem seemed to get worse when we had less footfall and traffic passing on Constitution Street.”
He says that he wants the council and the tram project to implement a more helpful helpline that people can use to report issues like his own. Eleazar says that he feels abandoned by the local authority who have done little to help with the antisocial behaviour or the antisocial hours of the tram workers.
“It would be nice to have someone to speak to on this. It just feels like they do not have the decency to actually listen to residents or businesses' concerns.”
Councillor Scott Arthur, Transport and Environment Convener, said: “Out of hours works on the overhead lines have been necessary along the route to minimise disruption to traffic and to ensure the project is ready to start testing and commissioning of the trams in the coming weeks.
"The works in this area are scheduled to be completed by 9 February.
“Of course I know this can have an impact on local residents and would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused."
He added: "Operatives are briefed to be respectful of residents and businesses in the area during these necessary works and we have raised this matter with the team.”
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