The arrival of a new testing centre opening in a residential area in Kingston Upon Thames has caused a conflicting battle of morality within the neighbourhood as locals weigh up the pros and cons of both the fight against the infamous covid-19 and a peaceful night sleep.
The site is situated in the rear car park of County Hall, however, this also happens to be positioned directly on Milner Road, a populous street filled with people concerned for their safety and wellbeing. Kingston Council pride themselves on the fact that this testing centre is easily accessible by foot which at first seems commendable, nonetheless this factor leads to an increase of activity in an otherwise quite area, not to mention that with the amount of people going to and from the testing centre, who all suspect or have a chance of having corona virus, there is an increased risk of infection to the locals in this area.
Furthermore, there has been a lot of unrest both literally and metaphorically as the generator used to power the site has been running all through the night and into the early hours of the morning keeping the residents living near to the site awake. After various complaints were made a new generator, that was supposedly silent, was installed and locals were told that this specific generator would run through the night time hours so that there was less noise pollution. However, this was not always the case as although noise levels on the whole improved, some nights the loud and obnoxious generator would turn on again and cause distress once more.
Other residents also reported that a large lorry, responsible for emptying the site toilets in the testing centre, was arriving in the early hours of the morning causing just as much noise as the generator had previously made. Suggestions were made so that the lorry would only come at more appropriate hours in order to protect residential amenity and keep the community content as they played their part helping the nation battle the prevailing pandemic.
