Angry residents living near a retail park are blowing their tops after being rudely awoken in the early morning - by LEAF BLOWERS.

Sleep-deprived locals by Elgar Retail Park in Worcester have been woken up by the leaf blowers every morning for the last two weeks, sometimes as early as 5.30am.

They say their peace is being shattered by the blaring noise which can last up to an hour each day and is disturbing their sleep this autumn.



And families claim workers have been simply blasting the leaves off the shopping park onto roads, pavements and drains for taxpayers to foot the clean-up bill.

Some have now complained to their local councillors about the issue who are calling enforcement action to be taken against retail bosses.

Labour councillor Jill Desayrah, who represents Warndon and Elbury Park, said it was effectively "fly-tipping on council property"."

She said: "This is private land and they have a responsibility to get rid of the leaves in the proper way, not dump them on public land."

""Leaf blowers are very noisy. Residents feel like they don't matter, that they are 'collateral damage'."

"It's a common problem. This is not the first example of the retail park being inconsiderate to residents."

"In the summer we had a problem with them tarmacing right through the night."

"It's the litter too. When KFC opened they were subject to a litter picking order which they did for six months and now they don't."

"People are fed up with the retail park as a neighbour. Everyone is happy with it in principle. "

"But they want to do their work as cheaply as possible. They're then dumping their leaves onto public space. "

"The city council aren't happy either and will be sending enforcement officers. "

"It shouldn't be the council responsibility, but when it ends up on the highway its left to them to pick it up."

"We'd just like them to behave like good neighbours. Do what you need to do, collect it and take it to the dump."

The retail park - home to a number of big stores including KFC, Costa and Argos - is managed by Legal & General.

Cllr Desayrah has reported the matter to Worcestershire Regulatory Services and says there should be 'some proper sanction' for managers who act in this way.

She added:"Legal & General are passing out work to subcontractors who don't care about the residents. "

"It's like them having the resurfacing work all over again. It is waking residents up. "

"Masons Drive is directly opposite the retail park. If anyone is suffering, it will be them."

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said were concerned the dead leaves could block drains in an area they say is already prone to flooding.

Another added: "They just blast the leaves into the road and drains and then consider it job done as the retail park is clear of leaves. "

"But the times they are doing it is really unsociable too. There's families with young kids living nearby as well as pensioners. It's just not on." "

Fellow Labour councillor for Warndon and Elbury Park Ed Kimberley said he had also been speaking to residents about their concerns.

He added: "As long as it's profitable for big companies to behave badly, they're going to behave badly. All we want is for them to be good neighbours."

"It's not the first time the park has been a bad neighbour. I hope it will be the last but I'm not very hopeful about it."

A Legal and General spokesperson said: "We are concerned to learn about the disturbance to residents living near to Elgar Retail Park. "

"We've raised this with our managing agents as a priority to ensure there is no further disruption to local residents. "

"We do not condone operating at unsocial hours, and apologise for any inconvenience caused by this."