‘It seems one moaner is going to cost us all’: Anger over £250,000 ‘acoustic fence’ at football pitches

BOSSES at one of Scotland’s most hard-up councils are spending £250,000 of public money on a fence – to drown out “noise pollution” from a football pitch.

The money – from the schools budget at Labour-run West Dunbartonshire Council – is being spent after just one complaint from a disgruntled neighbour.

Building the sound-blocking “acoustic fence” will cost the authority at least £250,000 but the final bill could be as much as £500,000, according to some estimates.

Hard-pressed West Dunbartonshire faces a shortfall of £6.2m from Government funding this year.

Officials had considered scrapping hot school dinners, cutting school milk and replacing traffic wardens with volunteers to plug the hole.

Instead, chiefs will now raid savings and increase council tax.

And residents say they are astonished that money which would normally be spent on books or teachers will fund a fence beside the state-of-the-art 3G pitch at a school in Dumbarton.

Shop owner Shah Arshad, 28, who runs the Serve N Save shop just yards from the pitch, said: “This shop has been run by my family for 30 years and I’ve never heard any noise from people playing football.

“It’s incredible really – it’s caused a real stir in the community. People really don’t understand why the council is so keen to spend the money on a fence.”

The new pitch at Bellsmyre Education Campus in Dumbarton opened last summer and replaced a previous worn-out pitch.

The intention was for adults to use the facility outside school hours.

But the proposed evening and weekend use was kicked into touch after a resident complained the plan would lead to more noise.

Council officials then took the matter further, suggesting worshippers attending Sunday services at nearby St Peter’s Church could be offended by profane shouting from footballers.

As a result, use of the all-weather pitch has been limited to pupils of two primary schools while plans are drawn up for the noise blanketing wall.

It is due to be built by August.

Neighbour Johnny Millar, 28, a print assistant, said: “The only word to describe this is ludicrous. There’s always been a pitch there and my friends and I played on it when we were younger.

“There’s never been an issue – I spoke with the local priest as well and he said none of his parishioners were against it or had spoken to the council.

“It seems one moaner is going to cost us all.”

Maurice Golden, Tory MSP for West of Scotland, said: “The decision to build the acoustic fencing should be reviewed immediately.

“Given the scarce resources local councils have at their disposal people will rightly question if this is a sensible use of public money.”

Acoustic fences can be found near busy roads to keep noise to a minimum.

The structures work by either “absorbing” sound waves or “reflecting” them back.

In 2011, supermarket chain Morrisons agreed to build an acoustic fence around its supermarket delivery yard in Paisley after residents complained lorry traffic was keeping them awake.

And a year later St Mirren Football Club built a partial wall at its training ground amid complaints residents at a nearby upmarket housing estate could hear “foul language” from its players.

Last night, West Dunbartonshire Council defended the outlay – which would be enough to pay for 132,275 meals on wheels or hire nine full-time teachers.

Convener of planning, councillor Lawrence O’Neill, said: “We are finding the cash from the existing school budget. There has only been one complaint but if we increase the use of the pitch we can expect to see that number increase.

“Ultimately we are finding money to ensure the pitch is not wasted and more young people can enjoy the use of the facility.”