ANGRY Amesbury residents say their lives have been made a misery by the noise and dust created by the new Solstice Park development.

Work to transform the 160-acre site at the side of the A303 into a high-profile business park is well under way and the loud pounding and constant spray of debris is enraging those living in the neighbouring Beverly Hills mobile home park.

"No one prepared us for this," said Caroline Pollard, who said her home is being shaken by the heavy machinery.

"The diggers are just metres away from our homes and the noise is constant from 6.30am to 7pm.

"We can't hear each other speak.

"I've got a sound monitor that shows it's been 80 decibels inside - we can't put up with this for months on end."

The digging is also generating a thick dust that is causing health concerns.

"One elderly couple have already moved out into temporary accommodation because they can't stand it," added Mrs Pollard (42).

"My son suffers from asthma and he's using his inhaler more often because this filth is always in the air.

"The dust gets everywhere - on our washing and in the homes.

"I filled up the paddling pool the other day and hours later it was like thick mud."

The mobile home owners have met with developers Mowlem plc and Amesbury Property Company to explain the problem and were disgusted to learn that no planning restrictions had been placed on the operation of the site.

"Local people have been let down very badly," said Councillor Margaret Strange, who said she intended to bring the issue before Amesbury town council.

"There is no control over when the machines can operate, so residents have to put up with bleeping and pounding all day long.

"There has been a real lack of consultation over this - it is unacceptable. People need to know what is going on and to be treated with a lot more consideration."

A Salisbury district council spokeswoman said: "We have investigated the complaints and are currently liaising with the contractors to ensure measures are put in place to minimise both dust and noise and that local residents are kept informed during the different phases of construction.

"Some measures have already been taken, such as restriction of working hours and resiting of certain activities, but we shall continue to work towards minimising the disruption facing residents and will keep the situation under observation."

In a statement this week, the developers said all works machinery at Solstice Park was being operated by Mowlem plc.

The statement continued: "Unfortunately, all construction activities do cause some noise, dust and disruption but Mowlem plc, as a major contractor, have written to local residents and do all they can to keep disruption to a minimum."

It went on to say that Mowlem had acted "extremely quickly and responsibly" to complaints and added:

"At this time of year, everything is tinder dry and no matter where you are, even without farming and construction activities locally, there is a film of dust on cars and garden furniture which will only disappear when we move into the wetter autumn weather.

"Unfortunately, despite Mowlem having written to all residents with 24-hour contact numbers, residents appear to prefer to make initial complaints to the environmental health department, local councillors, the town council and Salisbury Journal, rather than direct to Mowlem, which causes delays in response times."