FURIOUS residents are today fed up with a building firm they claim is making their lives a misery.They say Barker Homes, which is carrying out construction work in Cobbold Street, Ipswich, is flouting a noise restriction order and disturbing them at "inconsiderate" times of the day.

FURIOUS residents are today fed up with a building firm they claim is making their lives a misery.

They say Barker Homes, which is carrying out construction work in Cobbold Street, Ipswich, is flouting a noise restriction order and disturbing them at "inconsiderate" times of the day.

The company has also blocked their main access path into town, it is claimed.

The order, slapped on the company by the borough council in September, bans Barker Homes from working on Sundays or Bank Holidays and restricts them from making noise between 7.30am and 6pm on weekdays.

But matters really came to a head when Barker Homes, which is putting up retirement flats, worked throughout the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

Helen Boyd, a lawyer, said: "We have two small children and with the developers working into the evening, there is no way we can get the children to sleep.

"I am really angry at being woken up at 6.20 in the morning. Come the summer, this will unbearable."

Robert Stephenson, director of Barker Homes, denied any responsibility for work being carried out over the Bank Holiday weekend, but admitted a company based in Scotland was carrying out timber work on the site without his consent.

"They have got their own contract," said Mr Stephenson. "They had come all the way from Scotland and wanted to get the job done and were working under their own brief."

However, as far as the environmental protection department at the council is concerned, Barker Homes should have known about this work.

Clive Bentley, of the environmental protection team, said: "We believe that Barker Homes is responsible for construction activities on the site at the moment."

Mrs Boyd, of Cobbold Street, and other nearby residents say they have contacted the council for them to enforce the order but claim they are not being helped.

The Evening Star even has video footage of workers on the site at 6.30 on Friday, April 30, with a huge crane.

She has been forced to push flyers through people's letterboxes asking them to call the council about the problem.

She said: "We pay a lot of council tax and I don't think enforcing this order is too much to ask."

Mr Bentley said: "We have been given no evidence that they have broken the order, but if people are saying it then it may well happen."

He added: "We will now have officers on duty at various times."

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