Perthshire residents are livid over plans to extend the curfew hours of an all-weather pitch.
Letham homeowners near the facility at Seven Acres Park on Newhouse Road, run by Letham Community Sports Club, say their lives are being hampered by floodlight glare, late-night noise and bad language coming from the pitch.
Residents were already angry after guidelines restricting play to between 9am and 9pm each day, implemented when plans for the facility were first passed, had failed to protect them from the negative impact of the pitch.
And their fury magnified after the sports club lodged plans to extend the working hours by a further 60 minutes until 10pm.
In a letter to the council, one resident said: “What was going to be an ideal property, in which to enjoy our retirement, now feels somewhat like a prison.
“No longer do I feel I can enjoy the peace and quiet of my garden as I used to, no longer can I retire early in the evening, without having to consider the distractions of the noise and light, coming from the pitch.
“This proposal to change the times of operation, if allowed, will be nothing short of a sentence of outright misery.”
Another resident, Chris Ealey, claimed the club had already shown “serious continual disregard for the hours of operation, by continually operating well beyond the finishing time whenever the club seemed to feel like it, over the past few months.”
He added: “The council have not fulfilled their obligation to the home owners, by both, their inaction to police said venture, or their inability to assure the lease is strictly adhered to, when complaints are made. The full council made the ruling of the hours of operation to be from 9am to 9pm. It was the only concession made for the residents.
“Now surprise, surprise, this is trying to be circumvented. To say I’m disgusted by the council’s response throughout this whole affair is putting it mildly.”
Agent for the applicant’s Kerri McGuire said that the nine months since the new 3G pitch opened have been a resounding success for both the club and the wider community.
Mrs McGuire said: “The opening of the facility has created a more tangible club with which the members, their family and friends, neighbours and other groups can interact; the result being that the club is receiving many more inquiries about their activities.
“The board and the committee of Letham CSC have long-term aspirations which will require hard work and some obstacles to overcome and achieve.
“The extension of opening hours would ease/remove one of those limitations, namely the availability of the facility for use.”
The council has not yet set a decision date for the submitted plans.