Otago man has had 'a gutsful' over noise from local supermarket

Paul Barringer says the noise is keeping him awake at night. Photo / Peter McIntosh

A Mosgiel man has lost his cool over noisy refrigeration units at the nearby Countdown supermarket, which are keeping him awake at night.

Church St resident Paul Barringer said ever since the supermarket, which is next door to where he lives, was opened, the large fans in its refrigeration units had kept him awake or woken him up in the middle of the night.

The units made a loud humming noise which was hard to ignore and he could no longer do so.

"We've just had a gutsful."

During the day, the noise from the neighbouring carpark was excessive and annoying but was something he had come to tolerate over time.

The refrigeration units on the side of the Countdown building could not be heard above the ''white noise'' during the day but stood out at night because of a lack of background noise.

"When the traffic noise dies down . . . when you get all that outside noise away, it comes up around 9 or 10 o'clock."

Barringer said the "humming, droning noise" made it difficult for him and his partner to sleep as it could be heard clearly in their bedroom.

He had complained several times to both noise control and Countdown but nothing had been done, he said.

He had been told that since the noise was not deemed to be excessive nothing could be done.

Barringer also alleged the resource consent for the building stipulated the refrigeration units were to go on the roof of the building but they had instead been installed on its side.

Dunedin City Council resource consents manager Alan Worthington said monitoring had shown the site had been in full compliance with the noise-related conditions of the consent.

It was not clear if the refrigeration units were supposed to be installed on the roof, reports the ODT.

"However, because the site has been compliant with noise conditions, it does not raise an issue that requires further investigation as this stage."

A spokesman for Countdown said it tried to deal with any concerns from residents as quickly as possible as it wanted to ensure it was a good neighbour.

Countdown had organised additional testing in regards to the most recent complaint about noise from the refrigeration units, the spokesman said.

If the results of the tests were not within the correct measures, it would work towards a solution as quickly as possible.

Council compliance solutions manager Ros MacGill said the council had responded to a noise complaint but had determined there was no unreasonable or excessive noise.

Senior environmental health staff also reviewed a noise compliance assessment report as a condition of Countdown's consent.

MacGill said the report was comprehensive and noise levels were within district plan limits.

However, Barringer said it was a problem and no-one wanted to do anything about it.

"We have no quality of life, really."