Hoardings are to be put up at a building site to protect residents from the noise  of pile-drivers – but a community leader says it is not happening soon enough.

Around 20 houses are being built off Victoria Road in Prestatyn for Wales and West Housing Association.

But  pile-driving work started on the site by builders Castlemead has prompted complaints from residents.

The hoardings will be put in place for the next stage of the project, but Prestatyn north ward county councillor Paul Penlington says they should be installed immediately.

He said: “I have spoken to Denbighshire County Council planners. The development brief clearly said hoardings will be put around the site prior to work commencing.

“However this has not been done and piling work has commenced causing noise and dust.

“I have spoken to Denbighshire environmental protection officers about this and have been reassured hoardings will go up before the next stage of work begins.

"That is not acceptable however as the piling continues unchecked and residents are afflicted by dust and excessive noise. I am still working with the council to try to alleviate this urgently.”

He added: “I am fielding multiple complaints daily about this site.”

But a spokesman for the council said no rules had been broken.

He said: “The planning authority has advised the developer that they are expected to erect hoarding at the perimeter of the site before the commencement of any aspect of the development other than the pile-driving operation.

“The current activity is not considered to be in breach of the planning consent issued by the council.”

A spokesman for Castlemead said: “Castlemead and Wales and West offered to meet with the local councillor and with local residents on more than one occasion prior to the commencement of the works on site to discuss the sequence of works and likely timescales.

"Neither the local councillor nor residents showed any interest in attending these meetings and they were cancelled.”

Castlemead  is  working to the  planning permission gained by Wales and West for the development and disputed any suggestion that the hoardings should have been erected prior to work commencing for “access reason”.

The hoardings will be erected around the site within the coming two  weeks, the spokesman added.

“The foundation works are likely to take another eight to 10 weeks to complete overall.

"Piling works associated with the foundations,have taken somewhat longer than originally programmed due to encountering obstructions within the existing ground, but apart from the need to install two further piles in the coming weeks after ground obstructions have been removed, piling is now complete.”

Castlemead did not consider the levels of dust or nuisance caused by the start of works on the site to be excessive.

The spokesman added: “We feel that the comments made in relation to our work on this site at Pr