ACTION is being taken after residents of Fa’side Avenue South in Wallyford complained about dust from work at a building site near their homes.

One woman, who has lived in the street for 58 years but declined to be named, likened it to “a sand storm in the Sahara desert” one day.

Hart Builders, which is constructing 44 affordable houses for rent on the site in a project with its sister company the Cruden Group and Dunedin Canmore, said it was now monitoring the situation daily.

The company has a water bowser on the site, which a spokesman said was affected by the wind “constantly changing direction”.

The resident told the Courier: “It was awful with the recent high winds. They were filling lorries and the dust was flying everywhere.

“Then it wasn’t so bad as they had a van going up and down wetting it.

“I just don’t put my washing out now, I just put it through the tumble dryer, which is annoying as I like to get it out when the weather’s fine.”

She said she had been having to wipe her window sills, which were white PVC, every day.

“I like to keep a window open if possible but I am finding that if it’s windy I have to close my windows,” she said.

“Some days it’s just so mucky. It was like a sand storm in the Sahara one day.”

Elaine Di Troia, a member of Wallyford Community Council, who lives on the street, said: “It is a problem when you can’t open your windows on a nice day. The other day it was bad, they were driving up and down, and all you could see was clouds of dust.”

She has phoned the council’s environmental health department because people have complained to her about the time the construction workers start in the mornings.

Mrs Di Troia said: “The earliest I have noticed people arriving is 6.35am, cars come in and the earliest I have seen diggers moving around is about 7.10am.

“For example, last Wednesday morning there was a big digger there and a lorry reversing. I phoned environmental health just to check what the rules are around noise so close to houses. I was told because it was private land it’s 7am.

“For people who have young children who are still in bed and for older people, 7am is a bit early to be hearing beep, beep, beep.

“It is 8am on a Saturday morning, which I think is far too early when people might want a long lie in. I have had my windows vibrating with the road rollers going up and down to flatten the ground.”

She said that residents were also concerned about the amount of traffic which would be generated by new house building in the Wallyford area, questioning why there would be no direct access on to the A1.

She added: “We are talking about 1,500 houses getting built all the way round Wallyford with no access to the bypass, so they are going to go through Wallyford.

“We have tailbacks right through the village because you have people coming from Prestonpans and the top of Musselburgh.

“It is a tiny street and was never built for all these houses – we are going to be like the wee hole in the Polo mint.”

Following the complaints they received from residents, Councillor Kenny McLeod and Linda Watson – who was then standing for election to East Lothian Council – contacted the local authority to highlight the issue and then called in George Kerevan, SNP Westminster candidate, to check whether the problem had been resolved.

Ms Watson said there were “clouds of dust” one day, adding: “I know that the ground is dry but the housing developers should have been taking action to minimise the problem.”

Mr Kerevan said: “I can see that they are watering the site and that has reduced the dust levels dramatically.”

A spokeswoman for Hart Builders said it was a dusty site which was difficult to manage as the wind “constantly changed direction”.

She stressed that the situation was being monitored on an hourly basis and there was a bowser on site.

“Last week, the wind changed direction and there were some problems but it is being monitored regularly and as soon as it needs dampening down, that’s what we are doing,” she said, adding that residents should speak to the site manager if there were problems.

As for the working times, these were “standard construction hours”, she added.

A council spokesperson said: “I can confirm the council has had talks with the developer and contractors to agree on minimisation of dust, which has involved bowsers to dampen the ground and cut down on dust.

“Reasonable working hours on the site are 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on a Saturday. If residents have any concerns, they should contact the council’s environmental health team and officers will deal with those concerns. The number is 01620 827827.”