A retired priest is “knackered” after what he calls eight years of disruption due to a noisy nearby dairy farm in Swindon.
Reverend Doctor John Railton says Berkeley Farm Dairy in Wroughton disrupts him and other residents with industrial noise throughout the night.
Railton, 79, says the dairy has grown too big in the 17 years he has lived there, but the dairy boss says the claims are baseless.
After one sleepless night Railton said: “I was knackered. It’s very frustrating. It's a residential area and it's like living in the middle of a trading estate.”
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“The lorries go out in the small hours but also often the refrigeration units on the lorries are running intermittently throughout the night. And they're very noisy and stop us sleeping.”
Railton explained going to bed at 10pm and hearing noise every 15 minutes until 5am.
“The dairy takes no action.”, he said. “They dismissed our complaints and do whatever they want to do with a complete lack of consideration for those whose lives are being disrupted by the level of noise.”
Railton says other residents are affected and seeking a solution, although he is particularly vocal due to his proximity to the farm.
He wants a “more considerate and responsible attitude towards residents”, and ultimately thinks “major industrial enterprises like this do not belong in a residential area”.
The Reverend says since moving in once-open fields with cattle have been built on, and the dairy increasingly takes milk deliveries for processing.
The dairy’s website says it has “invested heavily in milk processing equipment and now has a much higher capacity” for customers seeking dairy processing and pasteurisation services.
Railton argues that these “huge tankers” reversing out of the dairy’s yard obstructing the road also represent a safety issue.
Berkeley Farm Dairy is owned by the Gosling family. Ed Gosling has said only two residents have lodged complaints and denies Railton’s complaints.
He said: “We had some electrical issues and had to run a backup generator for a week which was far from ideal but necessary to keep the business running.
“Even then we were switching the generator off overnight. We have since fixed the electrical problems so this should no longer be an issue.”
Gosling added that Swindon Borough Council installed noise monitoring equipment in Railton’s house to measure the noise and found no issues.
The retired priest said: “The moment the equipment was installed, noise disruption stopped. Two weeks later, when the equipment was removed, disruption started again.”
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