Angry residents have blasted a school over dazzling floodlights on its sports pitches and foul-mouthed football players which 'spoil their children's bedtimes.' A local councillor spoke of ‘noise and swearing’ and car parking chaos around St Ambrose College in Trafford’s Hale Barns area.
“It’s like Blackpool Illuminations. It’s a recurring issue where people are still playing on the fields past when they shouldn’t be.” Resident David Zuker, in a written statement to the committee, accused the school of ‘making no efforts to meet the neighbours’ and opposed the application for extending the hours.
He referenced a complaint from a resident who said: “I have called the school on a number of times to complain about the lights being left on overnight and when older children have been climbing into the artificial pitch facility. It’s now 8.25pm and we have been putting our children to bed. Unfortunately, l am complaining as this is the second evening the lights have been left on.”
“They say they will install additional light screens to prevent light spill,” she said, as planning officers recommended approval of the application.” Coun Simon Thomas spoke in favour of the application saying that conditions could be imposed to further regulate the lights ‘if they go awry’. “The residential houses are very near and I don’t think it’s fair to subject them to lights and noise. It’s not reasonable to impose this on homes nearby.”