ANGRY residents are objecting to a proposal by a developer to work 24 hours a day on an apartment complex near their homes.

People living in Old and New Albert Terrace in Runcorn fear their lives will be turned upside down if developer Taylor Woodrow gets the go-ahead to work through the night on the scheme to build 466 luxury riverside apartments at the Old Quay site on Mersey Road.

Taylor Woodrow has applied to Halton Borough Council’s planning department to amend a planning condition which restricts its working hours to 8am-6pm Monday to Friday and 8am-1pm on Saturdays.

It has asked to be able to work for up to 24 hours at a time to construct the concrete transfer slabs needed for a raised car park.

In a letter to the council, the developers said: ‘The above changes to the working hours are as a direct consequence of the process of the construction of the concrete transfer slabs, which has become apparent only during the construction of the previous building blocks.

‘Each slab has to be constructed in one ‘pour’ process and cannot be phased without compromising the structural integrity of the building.’

Residents have objected to the change claiming that they will have no quality of life during the process and will suffer sleep deprivation as a result.

Spokesman Ian Kirkham said: ‘The developer is now trying to claim that it had no idea when it designed the buildings it would not be able to construct them in the working hours of 8am to 6pm.

‘As you can imagine, we find this statement completely insulting. Does the developer really expect the residents of Halton, HBC officers and councillors to believe that they would have invested millions of pounds without knowing how they intended to build them?’

A decision is due to be made by a planning committee in July.