Roadworks Diversion Lorries Keeping You Awake? What Can You Do?

Night-time roadworks often bring a second problem with them: the diversion. When a motorway closes overnight, the traffic has to go somewhere, and sometimes that means a stream of heavy lorries past your bedroom window at 2am. The awkward fact is that UK nuisance law treats traffic noise very differently from construction noise, so who you complain to matters.

If you’re losing sleep, feeling the house shake and getting nowhere, that is exhausting. It’s worse when everyone you contact seems to say it’s someone else’s job. Here’s how to work out whose job it actually is.

In this article you’ll learn:

• What happened in the recent Tameside case
• Why Environmental Health usually can’t act on diverted traffic noise
• Who can act — and which complaint route fits which problem
• What the scheme and its contractors could practically do
• A checklist to use before you make your next complaint

What happened in Tameside?

In late October 2026 the Tameside Correspondent reported on residents of Mottram Road in Hyde, Greater Manchester. National Highways is building the A57 link roads (often called the Mottram bypass), a £228m scheme. During overnight closures of the M67, heavy goods vehicles have been diverted along Mottram Road.

Residents told the paper they had lost sleep for months. They described beds and houses shaking as lorries hit potholes. One household’s own CCTV count logged 461 HGVs and 3,020 cars over a single night in early October. Residents asked for lorries to be signed via the M62 and M60 instead.

National Highways declined that request. It said the A57 was chosen because it can take all motorway traffic, including HGVs, and that it had met residents. Its programme manager said: “We carefully planned this work to minimise disruption.” Tameside Council said it had to agree the diversion because Mottram Road is a classified road, and that it was working with National Highways to reduce the impact where reasonably practicable. At the time of the report the closures were targeted to end in mid-November.

Both sides have a point. National Highways’ position is that a diversion needs a road able to take all motorway traffic. But for the people living on that road, the cost is real.

Can Environmental Health stop noise from diverted traffic?

Usually, no. That’s the honest answer, and it saves you weeks of frustration to know it early.

Statutory nuisance is the legal test councils use under the Environmental Protection Act 1990: noise that is “prejudicial to health or a nuisance”. Councils must take reasonably practicable steps to investigate a statutory nuisance complaint from someone living in their area. Section 79(1)(ga) covers noise from vehicles, machinery or equipment in a street. But section 79(6A) expressly excludes noise made “by traffic”.

So a lorry driving along a public road on a signed diversion isn’t something Environmental Health can usually serve a notice on. That doesn’t mean nothing can be done. It means the lever is elsewhere.

So who can I complain to about a roadworks diversion?

It depends on what’s causing the problem. Split it into three parts.

Route 1: The scheme’s community relations team

Commonly used for: diversion routes, closure dates, overnight timings.

Pros: they control the closure plan and can change signing or phasing.

Cons: they can say no, as happened here.

Route 2: Your council’s highways team

Commonly used for: potholes, damaged kerbs, surface defects on the diversion route.

Pros: a specific, mappable defect is easy to act on.

Cons: repairs fix vibration from impacts, not the engine noise of the lorries themselves.

Route 3: Environmental Health

Commonly used for: noise from the construction site, compounds and plant.

Pros: real legal powers over how works are carried out.

Cons: limited reach over traffic on public roads.

What powers does the council have over the works themselves?

The construction site is a different matter. Under the Control of Pollution Act 1974, section 60, a council can serve a notice on anyone carrying out construction works — expressly including building, altering or repairing roads. The notice can restrict plant or machinery, set working hours and set noise levels. Breaching it without reasonable excuse is an offence.

Section 61 lets a contractor apply in advance for prior consent — an agreed method, hours and noise controls. The council must decide within 28 days. Working to a section 61 consent is a defence to a section 60 notice, but the consent must state that it isn’t, by itself, a defence to proceedings brought by a resident under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

When setting requirements, councils must consider the approved code of practice and the need for best practicable means (BPM) — the reasonable steps a contractor should take to keep noise down. In England, the approved code is BS 5228-1:2009+A1:2014 for noise, with BS 5228-2 for vibration.

Typical permitted hours vary by council. North Yorkshire Council, for example, recommends noisy work 8am–6pm Monday to Friday, 8am–1pm Saturday, and none on Sundays or bank holidays. Where works happen at night, as with the M67 closures, ask your council what hours and controls have been agreed for your site.

Can I get noise insulation if I live next to road construction?

Possibly, but don’t count on it. Regulation 5 of the Noise Insulation Regulations 1975 gives highway authorities a discretionary power — not a duty — to insulate, or give grants for, eligible buildings next to highway construction works where noise seriously affects them for a substantial period.

The key word is “adjacent”. If you’re next to the works, it’s worth asking. If you’re on a diversion route some distance away, you’re unlikely to qualify.

What could the scheme and its contractors practically do?

For the diversion:

• Repair surface defects on the diversion route before closures start
• Review whether a different route or HGV-specific signing is possible
• Give clear notice of closure dates and keep them short
• Offer a staffed out-of-hours contact

For the works site itself:

• Scheduling: keep the loudest activities to agreed hours
• Quieter methods: lower-noise plant and techniques where they’ll do the job
• Plant shrouds: enclosures fitted around breakers, piling rigs or generators
• Temporary acoustic barriers: properly specified, close to the source

Would acoustic barriers help with diversion traffic?

Not really. A barrier works best around a fixed, noisy source — a generator, a breaker, a piling rig. It can’t follow lorries along a mile of public road. Be wary of anyone suggesting otherwise.

On a works compound, though, a well-specified barrier can make a real difference. What matters:

• Height: it must block the line of sight between source and homes
• No gaps: sound leaks through joins and under the base
• Close to the source: the nearer the barrier to the plant, the better it works
• Absorptive face: a face that soaks up sound rather than reflecting it back

Rw (weighted sound reduction index) is a lab rating of how much sound a panel blocks; higher is better. dB(A) is a decibel reading weighted to match how the human ear hears. Lab Rw is not the same as the reduction you’ll get on site, because sound diffracts over the top and around the ends of a barrier.

Where does Hushtec fit in?

This site is supported by Hushtec, a New Zealand manufacturer of temporary acoustic barriers with a UK manufacturing site in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, where its Performance and Premium panels are made.

Hushtec’s barriers are rated at Rw 26 dB (Performance), Rw 32 dB (Premium) and Rw 38 dB (Signature Series), and its Rapidwall system has been wind-load tested up to 8 m. A rock breaker measured 92.4 dB without a Hushtec shroud and 77.4 dB with one, and in a generator case study noise fell from 86 dB to 48 dB. These are figures for fixed site plant, not passing traffic, and real-world results depend on layout.

Before you act: checklist

• Is the noise from traffic on a diversion or from the works site? Pick the route to match.
• Have you logged dates, times, vehicle counts and how it affected you?
• Have you reported specific potholes or defects, with locations and photos?
• Have you asked the scheme for the closure end date and whether HGV signing can change?
• For site noise, have you asked Environmental Health what hours and controls are agreed?
• Do you live next to the works? If so, ask about the Noise Insulation Regulations 1975.
• Still stuck? Copy your councillor and MP into your next email.

If you want a hand getting organised, start a record using our guide to recording noise evidence, use the complaint guide to structure your letter, or read more in the Learning Centre and FAQ. If you need support, ask for assistance.

This article is general guidance, not legal advice. For your specific situation, contact your council’s Environmental Health team or a qualified adviser.