The “incessant thumping” of a pile-driver at a building site has been frustrating neighbours for weeks – but it’s finally been put to good use.

A professional drummer has made a video of himself playing along and has come up with a “banger”.

Tom 0. Mitchell, who runs the drum school DrumWise, decided “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” after putting up with the noise from the Parsonage Place construction site in Downswood.

Mr Mitchell is a former student at West Kent College who also plays the drums with tribute band Purple Zepplin.

He said: “With 400-plus houses being built in what was a beautiful field very close to our home, there are many frustrations for current residents that go with all the construction.

“One of these is the constant, loud thumping from the pile-driving machine.

“I thought I’d make something positive from the noise, so I put together an improvised snare drum cadence, which I’ve called Pile-driving The Beat.”

“I’m annoyed that Bellway just thinks residents need to put up with it...”

AOther villagers are still less than enamoured with the noise.

Monksdown resident Patrick Morgan said: “The incessant thumping of the pile-driver is very disturbing for those of us at home during the day.

“These days that includes not just people working night shifts and trying to sleep in the daytime but also everyone working from home post-Covid.

“I’m annoyed that Bellway just thinks residents need to put up with it.”

However, there was some good news for Downswood this week.

The developer has completed the widening and resurfacing of Church Road, which for the last 12 weeks has been closed to traffic between the entrance to the Parsonage Place site and the junction with White Horse Lane.

The road was reopened on Sunday.

Mr Morgan admitted: “That’s good news of course.”.

Bellway is building 421 homes around three sides of the Grade I-listed St Nicholas Church.

The Parsonage Place scheme, between Chapman Avenue and Church Road, was rejected by Maidstone council's planning committee in July 2020 - against the advice of its officers.

It was, however, allowed by a government inspector on appeal in January 2021. It had been fiercely opposed by residents, including a petition signed by 1,600 people.

A spokesman for Bellway said: “The recent piling work at Parsonage Place has now paused due to an issue with the supply of materials.

“The work will resume once materials become available and it is an essential part of the build programme.

“We appreciate that piling work will inevitably cause some disturbance. However, monitoring equipment is in place and at no point has the noise or vibration exceeded the regulatory limits for this type of work.

“We have also invested in an acoustic cover for the piling rig at significant cost to further reduce noise. We apologise for any inconvenience caused during these works.”