Anger at noise as Openreach engineers work upto 2am

Locals in Kennoway Road in Windygates have complained about the presence of Openreach workers making noise and causing disruption very late at night and, in some cases, in the early hours of the morning.

Reports from this week alone suggest engineers were still on site at 10pm, while there have also been claims the company has been working up to 2am on some occasions – leaving householders nearby struggling with sleepless nights.

The issue has been picked up by local councillor and Fife Council co-leader David Alexander, who has called on utility companies like Openreach to fulfil their responsibilities to the communities they serve.

“It’s unacceptable to be working that late,” he said.

“They have to have some concern for residents and working very late at night, sometimes up to 2am, is ridiculous.”

Openreach launched a major recruitment campaign last year in its drive to speed up the UK’s broadband networks, with the government telling telecoms operators it wants ultra-fast broadband to be available in homes and businesses in every corner of the UK.

For its part, Openreach has been taking on 2,500 staff as part of its plans to connect 20 million properties by the late 2020s.

An Openreach spokesperson confirmed that preparatory work in Windygates to help meet that goal has been carried out in the area and apologised for any inconvenience caused by the late working.

“We’re carrying out some early works on Kennoway Road as part of our roll-out of ultrafast, full fibre broadband,” the spokesperson added.

“During the day traffic is busy and people use the street for parking, so we’re working overnight to try to keep disruption for residents to a minimum.

“The work doesn’t involve any excavations but we have needed to use a gully tanker to clear silt and debris from an underground chamber for short periods on two occasions.

“We’re sorry for any disruption this has caused. We’re aware it’s a residential area and we’ve been in touch with residents to let them know what we’re doing.

“We do need to complete these cable works in due course, which we’ll aim to do before 10pm, and we’ll alert residents concerned to this before it takes place.”