RESIDENTS of the Beaufort Road area of Birkenhead are furious at the problems caused by North West Water's (NWW) 32-week excavation work in the North End.

At a meeting held at the construction site, residents expressed anger at the inconvenience caused by Beaufort Road being closed to traffic for the project, which could run for a further six months.

A community worker said: "They have 15-feet tall fences five yards from people's homes, besides problems with dust and roads blocked off."

One resident claimed that she has been suffering panic attacks because of the work. It was also alleged that local children who suffer from asthma are having their conditions made worse because of the dust

Alan Parkinson, Project Manager for NWW, told residents: "The European Parliament and the Environment Agency have set us a timescale for reducing the amount of sewerage pumped into the Mersey Estuary. The work we are doing here will help remove 80 per cent of the polluting load."

Phil Hayes, from Birse Construction, added: "We have chosen to use excavation machines to minimise disruption. Also we would traditionally be working seven days a week and 24 hours a day but are doing the work five days a week, from eight until six, again to minimise disruption."

Birse also pointed out that when they had sent road sweepers out to help ease the dust problem, they had been stoned by children.

John Power, from Wirral Council's Housing Department, said: "We weren't informed about the extent of the work. There is obviously a cumulative effect with the problems. Obviously we will be listening to the concerns and hopefully things will be going a lot more smoothly from now on."

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