Fareham street at its wit's end over thunderous noise from M27 smart motorway upgrades

Neighbours living in Kingston Gardens, Fareham, have revealed how they are at their wits’ end at the racket being caused to turn the M27 into a smart motorway.

Exhausted residents have faced months of sleepless nights while engineers work through the night to improve the motorway.

Excavation work has caused homes to ‘shake’, while debris and dust kicked up from the overhaul has forced people to seek refuge inside.

Yvonne Barndell has lived in the road with her husband Arthur for more than 20 years and said the noise has never been worse.

The retired 68-year-old said the constant clanging and banging was now impacting her health.

‘I had a mild stroke in February due to all the stress and sleepless nights,’ said Yvonne, who suffers from diverticulitis, which causes intense abdominal pain.

‘It’s affecting everything – my physical health, my mental health. We can’t get a good night’s sleep. I have to sleep on a chair in the living room because the noise at the back of the house is so loud.

‘Last month I was sitting in my living room with my son and daughter when we heard this huge “boom boom boom”. The whole house shook from the drilling.

‘I feel like I’m a prisoner in my own home.’

Arthur, 69, added he had contacted Fareham MP Suella Braverman about the noise and pollution caused by the road works.

‘This has been our family home for 20 years and the noise is the worst it’s ever been,’ he said.

Highways England fitted temporary sound barriers to screen the noise last week.

But residents have lashed out, claiming the barriers ‘just don’t work’ and should have been installed months ago before the upgrade project began.

Georgina Payne, 43, lives with her two children and husband and now fears the noise will intensify, when the motorway expands from three lanes to four.

She said: ‘I have been here for 19 years and the motorway has just got louder and louder. It’s going to get worse when it becomes four lanes.

‘Highways England haven’t taken any consideration to the residents’ feelings.’

Mum-of-two Lisa Seabright, who has lived in Kingston Gardens for eight years, added complaints to highways bosses had ‘fallen on deaf ears’.

‘It’s been awful for 20 months,’ she said. ‘There are six or seven lorries beeping every night, you can hear people shouting at each other and there are all these constant flashing lights.

‘I’ve had to sleep in my front room to try and escape the noise from the back of my house. It’s a nightmare.’

Highways England said the motorway upgrades would bring a range of benefits to the area.

A spokesman added: ‘Living next to a busy construction site is never easy and we thank the residents for bearing with us while we complete this vital upgrade of the M27.

‘We try our best to be a good neighbour and avoid doing noisy work overnight wherever possible. Sometimes we need to close the motorway so we can complete our work safely, and we can only do this at night.’

Permanent noise barriers will be installed along the M27 in October. The project is expected to cost £244m and is due to be completed in early 2021.

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