IPSWICH Town has angered some of its neighbours living near the ground in Portman Road by applying to extend the hours in which building work takes place on the expanding North Stand.

IPSWICH Town has angered some of its neighbours living near the ground in Portman Road by applying to extend the hours in which building work takes place on the expanding North Stand.

The club has applied to Ipswich Borough Council to start half an hour earlier and finish half an hour later on weekdays, while starting 30 minutes earlier on Saturdays as they push to get the stand finished in time for the new season.

At the moment work takes place from 8am to 6pm during the week and from 8.30am to 1pm on Saturdays.

This has upset a number of residents living on a road next to the development and the club could be dealt a further blow as its application to erect an illuminated sign on the South Stand has been recommended for refusal by planning officers.

David Cox is one of three Alderman Road residents who have lodged a formal complaint about the application to extend working hours.

He said: "I think it is an affront because the conditions were put there as a residential amenity.

"The stand is an imposing structure and the building site is next to houses. The condition was put so residents would have some respite from it."

Mr Cox believes that noise from the construction site has upset a number of elderly residents over the winter and the situation will get worse in the coming months.

"A lot of the people who live here are older and are around their house most of the day and it has caused a lot of stress," he said.

"It has been very noisy during the winter but most of us have had our windows closed. With the summer coming the noise will be worse because the windows will be open."

Residents will feel better about the added hours if the club give them a date when construction is likely to be completed, Mr Cox added.

"If the football club say that the extra hours mean that the work will be finished earlier that would be better. But they still haven't told us when they will be finished."

The club also want to install two illuminated crests and a sign reading Ipswich Town Football Club in one-metre-high lettering on the South Stand.

But officers have recommended that the council planning committee refuse their application because "it is considered that the method of illumination (ie internal to the letters) would be particularly overdominant due to the size and long visibility range of the sign".

They would prefer the sign to be lit externally or not illuminated at all.

A council planning committee will discuss both applications by the club at a meeting on Wednesday.

Nobody from Ipswich Town FC was available for comment.