Neighbours faced year of 'nightmare' building work

A man has been fined after subjecting his neighbours to nearly a year of noisy building works.

Mohammed Gufran Uddin, 24, was also involved in smashing his neighbours' windows and throwing excrement in a garden after complaints about drilling and hammering during anti-social hours, a court heard.

He pleaded guilty to six counts of breaching a community protection notice at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court on 6 June.

Uddin, of Selbourne Grove, Keighley, was fined £1,800 and ordered to pay a £720 surcharge and £1,664 costs.

The court heard that Uddin bought two neighbouring terraced properties on Selbourne Grove in Keighley in 2020.

In May 2022 Bradford Council started to receive complaints about nuisance noise from building work at the homes, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Despite the council issuing a community protection notice to limit work being carried out between 08:00 and 18:00, there was "regular drilling and hammering" outside those hours.

Sawing and the regular use of loud mechanical tools also continued.

In March 2023 Uddin was issued with a more serious community protection notice.

He ignored the warning and the notice and his neighbours described it as a "nightmare" and feeling “trapped in their own homes".

The neighbours' statement, that was read out in court, said: “I have had paint stripper thrown on my car and excrement thrown in my front yard – all because we complained about this noise.

“Paving slabs have been thrown through the windows of our house.

“We are subject to disturbance on a daily basis, with builders working all hours.”

Uddin accepted that the work continued outside the permitted hours, and “showed remorse” for the upset he had caused.

Magistrates were told he suffered from anxiety – and this in part led to him trying to get the building work finished as soon as possible.

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