ENVIRONMENTAL health officers say noise levels at a Leominster business accused of being linked to a mysterious ‘hum’ are not a ‘statutory nuisance’.

Noise levels at Worcester Road-based BPI have also improved from last year after the plastic packaging company invested around £400,000 to deal with the problem.

Leominster Mayor Jenny Bartlett said they were pleased with an update given to them by the firm’s specialist acoustic contractors at a recent meeting.

She said: “For what they are required to do, I felt they had done that and much more.

“They have put in place best practice work and will consider everything they do in terms of noise and impact on residents.

“They now also have a closed doors policy and I felt it was a good meeting.”

But Mayor Bartlett said it hasn’t addressed all the residents’ concerns, particularly those of people who are very sensitive to the low frequency noises below 50Hz.

“There could be a row of houses and one person could be exceptionally affected,” she said.

“Some of the residents feel Herefordshire Council should do more.

“We will continue to meet with BPI as much as possible and on an annual basis.”

Marc Willimont, Herefordshire Council’s regulatory and development management services head, said: “Herefordshire Council met with Leominster Town Council, BPI and residents to debate the impact of work to reduce site noise through machinery and ventilation system upgrades.

“Noise levels were not identified as a ‘statutory nuisance’ issue and it was found that significant improvements had been made when comparing the noise levels to last year.”

Tim Roome, BPI site manager, said the council and environmental health officers are happy with what they have done.

He said: “We’ve spent around £400,000 on it to get to deal with the noise output.

“There continues to be some concern from a couple of residents who live two miles and a mile and a half away.

“We’ve offered to go into their properties to measure the low frequency noise, but the offer has been refused on several occasions.”

The works took place over last year’s August shutdown period.