RESIDENTS living next to Brighton College’s £38 million development have complained about noise and congestion.

The school has just got under way building a multi-million pound new centre for sports and science, but residents in Sutherland Road, living opposite the construction site, have slammed the disruption.

Joe Foster, 48, of Sutherland Road, said: “Yesterday evening at about 8.35pm there was a digger moving about over the way there.

“They started at 8am on the bank holiday Monday.

“It seems the school has been a building site for the last ten to 15 years. It is neverending and unfortunate for the people who live next to it.”

Another resident, Tom Craver, said: “This morning there were four coaches picking up children parked in road, and the bus couldn’t get past. “You also have heavy machinery coming in and out - it is a bit crazy. “Last night there was machinery moving at 10.30pm at night, little kids live in the street and it’s awful.”

Earlier this week hoardings were erected along one side of the street, blocking off the pavement until April 2018 according to a Brighton and Hove City Council notice.

Parking has also been suspended on one side of the street, leaving resident struggling to park their cars amidst the contractors’ vehicles.

One resident, who didn’t want to be named, said: “I’m annoyed that when I come home sometimes in the evening, I can’t park even though I am paying for a permit.

“A good amount of the parking has been taken away, on the side of the road by the hoarding, as anyone can park there whether they have a permit or not.”

Work on the state-of the art building, built by contractors McLaren, is expected to continue until June 2019.

The new building at the top school will be home to the science departments, a sports hall and a cafe.

Brighton College said future building work would be controlled to avoid disruption.

Brighton College project manager Steve Patten said: “The noise neighbours heard recently was the final clearing up of the site on which we have built our new academic building, which is now complete.

“It is unfortunate it ran into the bank holiday and we have spoken to the regional director at contractors Maclaren, who has apologised for the inconvenience caused.

“We have also been in contact with the council’s environmental health department to communicate what happened.

“Future building work on our sports and science building will be tightly controlled to avoid this happening again.”