A CONCERNED resident has said he is losing sleep and fears the value of his property is depreciating due to 'excruciating' noisy bin collections from a nearby pub.

The 65-year-old Poundbury resident, who asked not to be named, said that the sound of bottles being collected by disposal vans from The Duchess of Cornwall Inn in Queen Mother Square in Poundbury is 'deafening' and is causing distress to residents living in the adjoining properties.

The pub has apologised to residents for any disruption and has agreed to change its bin collection times.

The resident said collection were being taken as early as 5.40am and causing occupiers of nearby properties to fear it was having a depressing effect on the value of their homes.

He added: "It has been going on for months now. "I spoke to the council who said they talked to the pub. They told me that they would not be making any collections until aft 8am. Collections were being taken past that time for a while, but it has gone back to how it was before.

"You can imagine the sound of hundreds of bottles being dumped out of their bins. It is excruciating.

"There is a huge number of bottles all colliding in the rear of this van on the whole area acts as a sort of echo chamber. I go to bed expecting to be harshly awoken and I never know when.

"I'm used to early starts but this is beyond the pale. There are a lot of elderly people here who must also hear it and be disturbed.

He said that it is negatively affecting his mental health and that during the summer month he has not been opening his windows as a result of the noisy collections and said if he had known about the loud collections he would not have moved in.

He said: "I need to admit that I quite honestly would not have bought my property if I had known what it would have been like with the noise."

A spokesman for Dorset Council said: "We are working with the licensee in regard of this situation."

Ben Ward, General Manager of The Duchess of Cornwall Inn, said: “We apologise for any disruption that our waste and recycle bin collections have caused.

“We made it a priority to rectify this matter for the affected residents of Poundbury and have agreed with the Council that all bins will be collected after 8am. We will monitor the weekly collections to ensure this new agreement isn’t breached.”