Walkway building work 'has made our lives hell'

Residents David, Judy, Susan and Jean have been affected by the building work

People living metres away from building work on a new walkway have said the noise and vibrations have made their lives a misery.

Work on the North Shields Embankment walkway, which links North Shields town centre to the Fish Quay below, started in 2022.

North Tyneside Council apologised for noise and vibrations claimed a "much less noisy phase" was about to begin.

The walkway was due to be completed in the spring but has been delayed to the end of the year because of “several challenging areas underground”.

'Like an earthquake'

Residents living on the streets overlooking the building work said the noise was intolerable, with furniture shaking and objects falling down.

David Thomas said: "The whole building’s vibrating. It’s unnerving at times because you’re worried if it’s going to do any damage."

Some people have had their homes damaged, including Jenny who lives on a nearby street.

She said she had two big cracks up the the stairwell, but was told to put it through her house insurance.

“It's just absolutely horrendous," she said.

"It's like an earthquake. You can feel the vibrations coming up through the house.

"Things fall out of the cupboards, plants fall off windowsills. I’m constantly stressed."

The local authority said it had received no claims for damage and advised people to contact their home insurer for an assessment, adding it would then pay "any claims plus excess".

Resident David Thomas said he was worried about potential underground damage

Another complainant is Jean, whose mother lives directly opposite the works and found a dead rat in her washing basket.

“As a gesture of goodwill the council sent pest control. Pest control came out and said it was because the work had disturbed the area where the rats live," Jean said.

"My mam doesn't have any quality of life. Basically she’s in the house all day listening to this all day and the whole house shakes."

Meanwhile Kerry Nichols, who lives in the area and works at the nearby Little Pilates Company, said the noise was "so disturbing" and had ruined her clients' exercise classes.

"Our clients are very generous with their time and they’re still coming here. They understand that we're a small business and they support us, but it’s been hard," she added.

The walkway will link the town centre and the Fish Quay

However, Guy Moody, centre director of the Old Low Lights Heritage Centre is looking forward to the walkway opening.

“Anything that improves the connectivity between the Fish Quay and the town centre will be a real benefit for the heritage centre, so once the walkway is finished we hope to see a real benefit to our visitor numbers.”

The council's head of regeneration John Sparkes said the authority accepted the construction had been noisy and were "absolutely sorry".

He added: "If residents do have any claims for damage on their property we’ve explained to them the process to go through, through their insurance company effectively, which would be a transparent way of sorting the issue.

"But [the walkway] is something our residents and businesses have been crying out for years.”

Work started in 2022 and is not expected to finish until the end of 2024