ANGRY residents who claim their lives have been blighted by the noise from a ship at Ipswich Port are still waiting for a meeting with council officers about the din.

ANGRY residents who claim their lives have been blighted by the noise from a ship at Ipswich Port are still waiting for a meeting with council officers about the din.

The fed-up homeowners said the problem, which they claim is from a ship being cleaned out after transporting cement, had made their lives a misery for two years.

The Evening Star first reported about the problem on June 8, when Peter Evans, of Hengrave Close in Stoke Park, spoke of his frustration at the “deafening” noise.

Mr Evans helped to form NAG (noise abatement group) which quickly attracted the support of 30 residents who all claimed to have been affected by the racket.

At the time Ipswich Council said it was investigating the complaints but yesterday Mr Evans said he was still waiting for a meeting.

And he said the noise from operations at Southern Cement had been “appalling” on Tuesday night.

Mr Evans said: “When I arrived home at 5.30pm the noise was horrendous at my house so I complained. It got less noisy around by 11pm, but from about 3am it screamed its head off.

“I personally don't believe we will achieve anything till we either make this same noise outside the council offices for 40 hours continuous.”

It also emerged yesterday that the Oyster Reach pub and Premier Inn in Bourne Hill had been affected by the noise and was liaising with the borough council to try and resolve it.

A spokeswoman for Whitbread which runs the pub said: “With regards to the noise from the ship, we are doing all we can to minimise disruption to our guests and are working with the local council and resident groups to resolve the situation.”

Steve Rock, manager of environmental protection for Ipswich Council, said yesterday that the complaints were still being investigated.

He said: “I am emailing Peter Evans today requesting a meeting and I am looking forward to having a meeting with him to discuss the issues.

“We had 40 complaints about the noise last year and to date this year have had about 32 from individuals.

Southern Cement has earlier said its operations have been “on-going for almost seven years without any apparent problem” but that it would co-operate with any formal investigation by the council.