Bury St Edmunds Compiegne Way closure due to flooding prompts noise pollution concerns

The noise pollution caused by the closure of a flood-hit major road has been like living next to the A14, a community leader has said.

Melanie Soanes, chairman of Moreton Hall Residents Association, has spoken out about the A143 Compiegne Way, Bury St Edmunds, which has been shut since last Monday due to flooding caused by Storm Henk.

She said that as a result of the closure, lorries have been using the Moreton Hall estate as a cut-through, and has called for something to be done to address the repeated flooding, which has been an issue over autumn and winter.

Suffolk Highways took mitigation measures in April, which included removing more than 100 tonnes of silt from the drainage system and installing new pumps, but flooding persists.

“Somebody needs to take ownership and deal with the problem,” said Melanie.

“It’s frustrating as a resident. The council just don’t seem to be looking at updating the infrastructure of Bury St Edmunds.

“All they seem to be doing is building all these new houses, but they are not updating the roads.

“Councillors are not listening to the residents and to what they want. I feel like they pick and choose what they want to be involved with, but as soon as you raise an issue with them, they seem to refer you to somebody else.”

She said that lorries should be restricted to stop them from driving through the estate’s residential areas, which is causing her house to vibrate and poses a danger to school children.

“The noise is horrendous,” said Melanie.

“I didn’t buy a house on Moreton Hall to then be living next to the A14 because that’s what it's like.

“I can’t open my windows in the summer or winter. I had to put triple glazing on my windows upstairs because of the noise, and the kids standing on the Orttewell Road pedestrian crossing in the morning have big lorries standing either side of them.”

She added: “This shouldn’t be happening in this day and age. They should either remove the pumps and upgrade them, install more pumps or raise the road. It doesn’t take an engineer to work this out.”

Birgitte Mager, councillor for Moreton Hall ward, has raised the issue of noise pollution from lorries before, and said the flooding of Compiegne Way should be dealt with as a matter of urgency.

She said: “It’s a major road going out of Bury St Edmunds, and residents of Moreton Hall should not have lorries going through a residential area from morning until night. It’s simply wrong.

“People write to me about the road being closed, which means the traffic has to come through their neighbourhood, which in turn keeps their children awake, makes them stressed – it’s horrendous, but this has gone on for years.

“Residents are feeling hopeless, because we’ve a council that is not doing anything. I totally emphasise with them.”

Cllr Mager highlighted that if nothing is done to tackle the issue, flooding of the road will become more frequent due to climate change.

She said: “The road was build at the time when things were different, but things have changed, so we must move with it.

“If the pumps that have been put in are not working then we must reconstruct the road. It’s as simple as that and Suffolk Highways will have to find the money for that.”

Asked when Compiegne Way will reopen and what is being done to address the issue, a Suffolk Highways spokeswoman said: “We apologise for the inconvenience the closure of Compiegne Way is causing residents.

“Our specialist contractors are attending site as soon as they can this week to assess what needs to be done to allow for the road to be reopened.”

“As soon as we have a confirmed outcome, we will provide further updates.”

Cllr Beccy Hopfensperger said she had been pushing with the county council portfolio holder for a solution and hopefully this week a team would be able to go out and check the pumps.

She said: "We cannot have that road closed. It's not fair for the surrounding communities.

“It's a major strategic road and the consequences are HGVs use less appropriate roads and then you have what has happened in The Avenue [in Great Barton] and the verges get completely destroyed really."

A Highways spokeswoman added: “We recognise the frustration residents are feeling.

“Highways teams have been out day and night over recent days responding to hundreds of emergency flood reports across the county working to keep people safe and the county’s roads moving.”