Residents living near new Stirling prison move for legal action after noise torment

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Residents tormented by ongoing noise issues at the nearby HMP Stirling are set to take legal action against the Scottish Prison Service.The Observer reported last week that children living near the state-of-the-art complex are being forced to go to sleep wearing noise-cancelling headphones to drown out screaming, shouting and swearing from the site.The £85million prison in Bridge of Allan has been plagued with issues since opening last year - and Stirling councillors heard at a recent meeting that residents had gone from a “peaceful, quiet existence to a living hell” because of “incessant” noise.Our sister paper, the Sunday Mail, reported over the weekend that in an audio recording obtained by the newspaper, prisoners can be heard loudly singing along to the 1990s Backstreet Boys hit ‘I Want It That Way’.It has forced some residents to look into taking the SPS to court in an effort to provoke some action.Barry Mills’ eight-year-old daughter Lara is one of those forced to use headphones to drown out the noise at night - even with her bedroom window closed.Barry said: “One night they were all partying and singing pop songs, screaming them out.

My kids are wearing headphones to block out the noise at night and they’re terrified.“We’re now looking for a lawyer to represent us because this situation has destroyed our lives.“I go to work and look forward to coming home to relax but ever since the prison opened none of us have been able to do that.”Neighbour Tony Macaulay - who has lived on the estate for more than 20 years - added: “We are the ones in a prison because we can’t go outside, we don’t want to open our windows and we are afraid all the time.