ANGRY residents who claim their lives have been blighted by the noise from a ship at Ipswich Port today told of their frustration after a key meeting was postponed.

ANGRY residents who claim their lives have been blighted by the noise from a ship at Ipswich Port today told of their frustration after a key meeting was postponed.

The fed-up homeowners had arranged to speak with Ipswich Council's environmental health officer Steve Rock over the problem.

They claim the noise is from a ship being cleaned after transporting cement and say it has made their lives a misery for two years.

But the talks, which were due to take place on Monday, were postponed last week by the council and no new date has yet been set.

James Spencer, of Rectory Road and a member of the residents' NAG (noise abatement group), said: “I rearranged work to attend this meeting and then we get postponed with no explanation.

“We are pleased the meeting will take place at some point - at first we were told it had been cancelled completely - but it shows how much concern they have for people losing their sleep.

“We just hope there will be another meeting set up because unless you lose sleep it is hard to sympathise with what it feels like to not be able to sleep at night.”

NAG, which has the support of 30 residents who all claim to have been affected by the racket, said the source of the problem is Southern Cement, a cement making firm.

A spokesman for the borough said: “We postponed the meeting at this stage because we thought it would be more helpful to have more information available from current talks with Southern Cement.”

A spokesman for Southern Cement said the company could not comment on Ipswich Council's actions.

Have you been affected by the noise? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.