\n Caroline Riddell and Stephen Stansfeld say Peasenhall, near Saxmundham, is meant to be a “sleepy” and “remote” village for mainly retired Suffolk folk.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, a “racket” coming from a wood chipper in Valley Farm has “completely ruined” that aesthetic, turning them “crazy”, the pair say.\n<\/p>\n
\n The noise has become so loud that they often wear earphones or turn up the radio to block it out.\n<\/p>\n
\n Stephen Stansfeld, who lives 300 metres away, described the “tearing, whipping sound” as “unbearable” and “constant”.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “It’s made us so miserable and we try and do what we can to block it out.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We bought the place because we wanted somewhere quiet, but it’s just becoming industrial land.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We wear earphones to block out the noise.”\n<\/p>\n
\n They say the noise is making them go crazy. (Image: Contributed)\n<\/p>\n
\n He also noted that a dryer at the site goes on late until the night, and he has tried to contact the landowner, Collins Farming and Forestry Services Ltd.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, Mark Collins, Director of Collins Farming and Forestry Services, outlined that the company has operated on the outskirts of Peasenhall for the last nine years, producing woodchips for biomass heating.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are working with our neighbours, Peasenhall Parish Council, East Suffolk environmental health department and\u00a0 East Suffolk planning department to try and find a solution to reduce the noise level.\n<\/p>\n
\n “To this end we have had two in depth sound analysis reports undertaken, and from this data and advice from consultants we have now submitted planning permission to erect a sound barrier.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The retrospective planning application currently underway includes proposing a six metre straw bale wall as a sound barrier and a maximum of 130 weekdays of wood chipper use. It has had 35 objections.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Collins pointed out that in the last year, between March and December, the wood chipper was in operation at Valley Farm for 52 days.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n However, Mrs Riddel, who lives behind the property, added: “The idea of sitting out there in the summer and having a lunch and a cup of coffee is unbearable.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The problem is that selling the property would be impossible.”\n<\/p>\n
\n She says her family would normally rent out the property next to their home for around \u00a315,000, but they are now unlikely to.\n<\/p>\n
\n Other concerns included the large numbers of lorries passing through the village, the impact on local wildlife such as owls, and the impact on people enjoying rural walks.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n An East Suffolk Council spokesperson said: \u201cThis application for retrospective planning permission is currently under consideration and awaiting a decision.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It was received following an investigation into reports of unauthorised change of use from agricultural land to storage and processing of timber.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe application has received a number of comments from consultees and neighbours.\n<\/p>\n
\n “All of these comments will be taken into account, along with any material planning considerations, including potential negative effects of noise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caroline Riddell and Stephen Stansfeld say Peasenhall, near Saxmundham, is meant to be a “sleepy” and “remote” village…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-440988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}