Blackstone dad prone to stress seizures furious at Ipswich Council over noisy night works

An Ipswich single father prone to stress seizures, whose son has ADHD, has fired up about noisy, night-time Council roadworks.

Residents of an Ipswich suburb have voiced their frustration at night-time roadworks they say was not properly communicated, including a single dad prone to stress seizures.

Ipswich City Council began the upgrade works to the intersection of Mary and William streets in Blackstone in February to cope with increasing traffic.

The upgrade involved new traffic lights and dedicated turning lanes at the busy intersection, along the route from Springfield to the CBD.

While locals said they were happy about the upgrade they claimed not to have been adequately warned before recent night works started.

Blackstone’s Johnathon Cain, who suffered from a serious brain injury and was a single father to a neurodivergent son who “struggles to sleep at the best of times”, said he would have made alternative arrangements had he known about the night works.

Ipswich City Council has been contacted for comment, but said in an email to Mr Cain that it pologised for jack hammering throughout much of the night and some works had to be done overnight as Mary St could not be fully closed in the day due to heavy traffic.

Blackstone roadworks. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Cain said he was not given any notice about the road works, except for a sign at the work site saying that William St would be closed.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving the fact (council) are finally doing this corner up,’’ he said.

“But, seriously, at a respectful time would be more appropriate considering they shut the whole damn street off.

“How is anyone supposed to sleep for school or work?

“My whole house has vibrated and the flashing lights have made it look like a disco for the past two nights.

“I’m supposed to be getting adequate sleep to help with seizure control because of my brain injury.’’

The roadworks started at 9pm on Monday and continued well into the early hours of Tuesday morning, he said.

Mr Cain had to cancel NDIS and medical appointments due to a lack of sleep, heightening his risk of seizures.

He said he woke on Tuesday morning to find the street barricaded and claimed no workers were present to let him through to take his son to school and attend his appointments.

Blackstone road works. Picture: Supplied

The apology sent ot Mr Cain, viewed by Qld Times, said there was a traffic controller in place on William St and that closure of William St was notified via letterbox drop.

It said as much noisy work as possible was done earlier in the evenings but some had to be done later.

Part of the reason was to minimise disruption to the water supply network.

Works were due to have started in March but were delayed by rain and then by pipe works last month.

At this stage, most noisy night work would be finished by this Friday, March 17.

However some less noisy night work including laying of asphalt would be needed after that.

Council was asked by Qld Times if residents could be forewarned in future so they could take steps to sleep elsewhere during night works.

Mr Cain’s NDIS support workers also took to social media to complain on his behalf.

“I would like to point out some very serious concerns with the works currently operating in William St, Blackstone,’’ one posted.

“I have a client (Mr Cain) that lives directly in the middle of the works.

“Not only have the works this morning caused him distress, but the late night/early morning noise pollution is having detrimental effects on my client’s mental and physical health”.

Blackstone road works. Picture: Supplied

Resident Chris Ambury said he had received a letter recently about the upgrade but claimed it made no mention of when, or if, night works would be carried out.

“They (council) sent a letter for night works over a month ago, but we weren’t told when they would actually be happening,” Mr Ambury said.

“Council acknowledged themselves there wasn’t a notification sent out about this lot of night works.

“I had a discussion with Council yesterday about it and they even went back over their records and double-checked everything sent out”.

An alert by Ipswich City Council in February highlighted the upcoming roadworks.

It said the works would mostly be carried out on weekdays between 7am and 4pm, but expected some night works would also be required.

There was no mention of when the night works would be happening.

Some residents said they received a letter from council outlining the construction project and any disruptions.