Dear Sir,

There has been a proliferation of sirens being used by the emergency service vehicles using Burn Lane both to exit and enter the town recently. I believe the decision to direct emergency vehicles down a wholly inappropriate route was made a number. of years ago. Now we have traffic calming chicanes / mini roundabouts and backup of traffic at busy periods. Without logging the instances of these occurring, on certain days there must be 30 or more per day, starting early morning and on some occasions, continuing until after 11pm.

Although I live off a road from Burn Lane, the noise reverberates around the whole area, and can last up to a minute or more, depending on traffic conditions. Those living on Burn Lane itself must be affected even worse than those in adjacent streets. For anyone working shifts and trying to get rest during the day, this must be a nightmare.

I realise the emergency services play a crucial role in the community, and that the policy of sounding sirens on emergency calls was reviewed I believe, following a fatal accident on Tyneside a few years ago, but find it difficult to believe that it is necessary to actuate sirens on such a regular and persistent basis. It would be interesting to hear the views of the emergency services about their policy on when  and when not to actuate sirens in residential areas.

Name and address supplied