Neighbours angered by night noise nuisance at Royalton site

Western Bureau:

Several residents of Rutland Point in Negril, Hanover, are expressing displeasure about nightlong construction activities which they claim are still taking place at the Royalton Negril construction site, despite a stop order imposed by Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie.

Among the residents is Negril-based North American travel agent Darlene Rhoden, who resides at a neighbouring gated community.

Rhoden has penned a letter to the prime minister, who is also the minister of environment, and the Negril Chamber of Commerce regarding the situation, which she described as "the disruptive behaviour of Royalton Negril", which includes use of a jackhammer all night long.

HEALTH HAZARD

"It's been months this has been going on," Rhoden told The Gleaner.

"So it is unacceptable, but we tolerated it until the recent incident that happened, and then we were happy to hear that there was a 30-day stop order. We thought we were going to have a little bit of downtime and some rest from their behaviour, but that just wasn't the case; they were still working and then they started using a jackhammer on Saturday night and that's when we just said this is not tolerable any longer," she said.

The 30-day stop order had been imposed on the construction of the 573-room hotel last Tuesday by the local government minister, after a section of the building collapsed, injuring five workmen.