People have voiced their anger over "constant thumping" coming from a housing development.

Residents of Otterham Quay Lane in Rainham have suffered "intolerable" banging for the past six weeks between 8am and 5pm from Monday to Friday.

Residents spoke to KMTV

Developer Persimmon Homes South East's scheme includes 23 one-bedroom homes, all of which are affordable. The rest of the properties have two, three and four bedrooms.

But the sound of the construction has driven some members of the community over the edge.

Resident Alan Beeston, who has lived in the road for more than 30 years, took a trip with his wife for a weekend just to escape the noise – and now plans to go away for a whole week.

He said: "I usually wear a hearing aid, but during the day I take it out. You can hear it from miles away. You can hear it over in Station Road.

"There are tens of houses between us and Station Road and you can still hear it there. Screening won't fix the problem.

"The real problem is the type of soil their trying to build on. It's sandy, so they're having to pile it.

"I've had to go away on a couple of occasions, and last weekend I said to my wife, 'let's go away this Friday, and have the weekend without the continuous pounding.

"We have another three weeks of this so we're going to go away for a whole week to have some sort of respite.

"It is absolutely scandalous. How they can get away with it I don't know.

"We will have to suffer nine weeks of this. And then we get a break, and then further conpounding in two other phases. People will be going stir-crazy."

When Alex LeFevre moved into his home 36 years ago, he was met with scenes of blossoming orchards and tranquil landscapes.

Now, he describes the view from his window as a "concrete jungle".

He said: "We try and go out as much as possible, now we can, as you can't open any windows because of the dust and grit.

"There is no shielding or fencing to try and stop it from being blown over to the houses.

"It's not very pleasant at all. If you ask any of the residents around here, they will try and avoid this period of time because it is becoming intolerable.

"It is becoming intolerable."

"It used to be so pleasant. To see the blossom in the springtime was magnificent. Now all we see is hi-vis jackets, thumping noises and huge machines. It's a concrete jungle.

"Everybody needs a house, we know that, but there have been wasted opportunities on other sites which should have been used. No doubt this was a very cheap option of availability.

"The communication was very poor between the council and the residents, and persimmons and the residents. Nothing was communicated well whatsoever."

A spokesman for Persimmon Homes South East said: "We apologise to residents near our Otterham Park development who have been affected by construction noise.

"Unfortunately some noise is inevitable but we are working closely with the local council to minimise the impact on neighbours.

"We aim to have the works finished as quickly as possible."

Medway Council confirmed it is aware of the noise complaints and is looking into the situation.

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