Noise from TransPennine Express depot ‘prevents garden enjoyment’

In a longstanding history, TransPennine Express (TPE) has received further complaints of “noise pollution” emanating from its depot off Seamer Road.

The £7million depot has been the subject of ongoing concern from local residents and councilors since it opened in 2019.

Sue Rawson, whose home is about 300m from the depot, said: “The noise surrounds and enters our home from the inside and out

“Gardening here at our home in Scarborough is affected by noise pollution from the Seamer Road maintenance depot and with summer approaching that’s not fair.”

Ms Rawson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that she had lived in the area for nearly 20 years but had felt “trapped” by the noise since the depot opened, and urged TPE to “maintain its moves elsewhere.” “.

“The only thing I really want is for them to realize and accept that they built a brand new depot in the completely wrong place in a residential area.

“It’s the bottom of a very steep valley that traps the noise without there being any soundproofing and they should stop using it,” Ms Rawson said.

She added, “You made a huge mistake and you should just stop making noise.”

A spokesman for TransPennine Express told LDRS: “Opening in 2019, this depot provides essential operations to enable our services to and from Scarborough to operate and has also created new and quality jobs in the town.”

“We have worked closely with the council on the depot, both in terms of obtaining planning permission and in terms of day-to-day operations.

“We have also listened carefully to feedback from residents and the City Council and where possible we have acted on this and introduced changes that avoid using the depot for operational purposes between 11pm and 7am except in exceptional cases, which is a practical step was.”

The government recently announced that it would not renew the ailing rail operator’s contract and would nationalize the service at the end of May, with an “operator of last resort” taking over the service.

City councillors, council officials and the local MP have also been contacted by residents about noise complaints about the depot.

Commenting on the noise from the TPE depot, Scarborough and Whitby MP Sir Robert Goodwill said: “The problem seems to be that they start the trains early in the morning so they can turn on the lights and clean them.”

He said: “The trains are very noisy and they promised there should be a power line so they only have to start the trains when they need to get into the station.”

The TPE spokesman added: “We continue to have discussions with the Council on operational matters at the depot, which we are conducting in accordance with the best possible means.”

“Our services, which depend on this depot, provide vital connections for Scarborough residents and visitors, which in turn supports the local economy.”