DEVELOPERS have agreed to meet residents to try to find a compromise to minimise disruption on a site where 144 homes are being built.

Work on the large new housing estate in Gloucester Park, off Broadmayne, Basildon, is only supposed to take place from 7am until 7pm Monday to Friday and 8am until 2pm on Saturdays.

Only quieter work inside the homes, such as plastering or electrical installation, is supposed to take place on Sundays.

However, residents from surrounding streets complained last week noisy work had been going on after 2pm on Saturdays and on Sundays.

Phil Rackley, Labour councillor for St Martin’s ward, has now been given assurances from the building consortium it will send a representative to meet surrounding residents.

He hopes this will provide an opportunity for both sides to discuss how to minimise noise disruption and mess from the building site.

He said: “I have been liasing with developers Barratt Wilson Bowden. They are now prepared to meet residents to discuss how surrounding residents’ lives could be made more bearable.

“There is nothing we can do now to stop the building, but it’s important we do everything possible to help people who are seriously inconvenienced by it.”

Andrew Buxton, 42, from nearby Roodegate, previously complained about noisy building work continuing until at least 4pm on Saturdays and from 7.15am on Sundays.

However, he said: “I think it would be a really positive thing if they met us.

“I would like them to start work later on weekday mornings and ideally not on Saturdays or Sundays.”

A spokesman for Barratt Wilson Bowden said: “We are liaising with the council and local councillors to arrange a meeting with residents where construction issues can be discussed.”

A Basildon Council spokesman confirmed noisy work was carried out on November 6 and 13, which were both Sundays.

It is understood this was done by a scaffolding subcontractor employed by Barratt Wilson Bowden.