Building company’s presence at Sandy Hook only caused occasional alarm – residents
A BURGLAR alarm sometimes going off late at night was the only criticism that Sandy Hook residents have had of their neighbours, building contractor JW Rihoy & Son, which is looking to move out.
The firm has applied to redevelop the former Co-op Homemaker building at Lowlands Industrial Estate as its new headquarters.
None of the Sandy Hook Estate residents spoken to yesterday had heard of Rihoy’s plans, which were revealed in that morning's Guernsey Press.
David Le Brun has lived in flats next to the site for about five years.
‘I worked for Rihoy’s years ago,’ he said.
He had not had a problem with noise or the fact that staff sometimes parked on the estate.
‘The only problem is their burglar alarm goes off at night, sometimes at about 2am or 3am,’ he said.
‘They reset it but it goes off again. We won’t miss that. Other than that they’ve been as good as gold.’
Another resident of the flats Natalie Diment, who has lived there for two years, said that a bright security light also goes on late at night, sometimes along with the alarm.
‘It’s not happened for a while but there have been spots when it’s gone off multiple times a day,’ she said.
Martin Crittell has lived near the site for more than 30 years and said that parking can sometimes be ‘a bit of a pain’.
‘After 4pm half of the staff go home so it’s not bad, but occasionally I come home at lunchtime and there’s nowhere to park.’
Other than the occasional burglar alarm the site was generally quiet. ‘They’ve got their joinery shop and you hear that sometimes but that doesn’t bother us.’
‘They’re never a problem really,’ said Mike Irvin, a resident of some 25 years. ‘I’ve heard the burglar alarm a few times.’
He had his own parking space but said that he had seen staff parking on the estate. ‘But it’s only the office people who park here.
‘They’ve been fine and I’ve never had a problem with them, to be fair.’
In the planning application, Rihoy & Son director Jeremy Rihoy said the company was over-capacity at the site and staff took up much of the on-street parking nearby.
