Residents living near the Sita recycling yard in Lock Lane have signed a petition against allowing the firm to start work earlier in the morning, and using floodlights in the winter months.

Householders say they are already disturbed by noise from recycling lorries in the early hours, they suffer litter blown from the site and from its vehicles, and they claim Sita workers use residents’ parking spaces and block their driveways.

Gloria Cleaver and her husband David say the firm already works longer than its agreed hours - disturbing residents’ sleep by driving noisy vehicles over speed humps before 7am.

Mrs Cleaver said: “We are sick of being woken up early in the morning

"We are terrified they are going to operate all night. We have had enough of noise, pollution and rubbish that blows off the lorries.”

Mr Cleaver suffers from emphysema and heart problems and uses a wheelchair. The couple say employees often park in the couple's drive so he cannot get out onto the road.

Others in the street have reported similar problems.

Mother of four Lorraine Adams, 39, said her husband worked nights and often found it impossible to park near the house during the day. She fears floodlighting early on winter mornings and noise from lorries will disturb her children’s sleep.

Father of two Darren Brough, 36, said his car had been blocked in on his own drive.

“Parking is a massive issue, especially people parking on the grass verges,” he said.

“The litter is awful down there and in the summer when you have the windows open you won’t want lorries thundering up and down outside.”

Michael Kinson (Con, Warwick West) is responsible for refuse and recycling policy. He said that Sita workers should not be parking on verges in Millers Road, and should use nearby Wedgenock Green.

He explained Lock Lane had been surfaced in the past year, and that it would be unfortunate if speed humps put in to make the road safer for children going to school added to noise.

Coun Kinson added he had not yet received any complaints from Millers Road residents but would look into their complaints.

What’s the problem?

Sita is a private company that collects recycling for Warwick District Council. It wants to extend the operating hours of its Lock Lane depot.

The hours are currently 7am to 6pm from Monday to Friday and 7am to 1pm on Saturday. Some 15 collection vehicles, two cage vehicles and a roadsweeper currently operate from the site.

The company has applied for extended hours from 6am to 6pm from Monday to Friday, from 6am to noon on a Sunday and from 6am to 6pm on bank holidays.

It says it needs this time to fulfil its contractual obligations to collect and process the area’s recycling, but residents say the noise from vehicles and parking problems caused by the depot’s 40 to 50 staff will get worse.