Noisy building machinery being used outside time limits, Kildare council meeting hears

Noisy pile driving equipment, generally deployed on large scale building projects, has been used outside the permitted times in Naas, it has been claimed.

Green Party councillor Colm Kenny told a Naas Municipal District meeting on April 12 that he had heard the machinery being used at 7.30am.

He asked that Kildare County Council ensure that all building sites using pile driving for foundations in the Naas area are fitted with sufficient silencer and muffling systems to reduce consistent repetitive noise and vibration exposure to the general public.

The councillor also said that efforts should be made to ensure that noise thresholds are within health and safety limits.

Cllr Kenny also questioned how far away from the noise source are the decibel readings taken.

He also said that work time and duration of use limits, as stipulated in the planning permission, should be adhered to.

KCC official Mairéad Hunt reported that pile driving, like other construction activities including rock breaking and bulk excavation, have a noise condition recommended by the council’s environment section for inclusion in the granted planning permission.

This planning condition limits the time that the activities can occur, from Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm and on Saturday from 8am to 1pm.

The planning conditions also set a construction noise limit of 70 decibels for all activities on site.

Ms Hunt said she would investigate how far from the activity the noise levels are monitored.