The Government's roads minister has been invited to hear
for himself the motorway noise suffered by people living next
to the M1.
Blaby MP Andrew Robathan said the stretch of motorway between
Narborough and Enderby creates "terrible" noise
and pollution. Source Leicester
Mercury 28th May 2007
Residents, many of whom lived there before the road became
the M1, say the problems make their lives a misery.
Last week, Mr Robathan appealed to Roads Minister Stephen
Ladyman in the Commons to visit to see the problems for himself.
He said: "I have been in correspondence with the Department
for Transport for some years about the noise and pollution
problems on the M1 between Narborough and Enderby.
"The housing on that stretch is very close to the road.
It was built before the road became the M1.
"There is therefore a terrible noise problem, although
we have had some resurfacing.
"There is also the problem of the pollution from the
traffic going by."
Mr Robathan admitted it is "not an easy problem to solve",
but asked Deputy Leader of the House, Paddy Tipping, to see
if the Minister would visit. Mr Tipping pledged to pass on
the request.
Enderby resident Mich Bingham, of the Motorway Action Group
for Enderby and Narborough, said something needed to be done.
He said: "The volume of heavy goods vehicles has increased
by 11 per cent during the last six years.
"It's like living next to continuous trains and we shouldn't
have to put up with such degradation.
"The Minister in charge needs to listen to our concerns
about noise levels and the only way he could understand the
problem is to visit the area."
The Highways Agency has already resurfaced the road with
a "quieter surface" to cut noise levels. Residents
say this has not wiped out the din and they want noise barriers
to be installed as well.
Stuart Woofeden, an action group member who lives in Narborough,
said: "We can hear loud noise from the motorway on a
daily basis and we need some sort of barriers to help the
situation. If the Minister could experience the level of noise
that we have to, I'm sure he'd take our point about barriers."
Householders claim passing traffic prevents them from having
conversations in their gardens or even opening windows in
summer.
Affected areas include Leicester Forest East, Groby, Glenfield
and Kirby Muxloe.
Visit The
Highways Agency website for additional
infomation on the M1 M69 link road
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