RESIDENTS who were told they would benefit from new fencing to block out the noise of traffic thundering along the A50 will no longer be offered sound barriers around their properties.

The Highways Agency told Blythe Bridge residents living on streets where there is currently no sound protection that they would benefit from new insulated fences designed to reduce the noise of passing lorries and cars.

However, due to what has been described as an administrative error, officers have had to tell families that no new barriers will be installed.

Instead, only existing insulated fences will be replaced, meaning homes in Meadow Close, Sutherland Crescent and Chartley Close will be left without any soundproofing.

Residents in Meadow Close, whose gardens are less than 20 metres from the dual carriageway, said the noise levels are ruining their quality of life.

Kathleen Brayford, chairman of Forsbrook Parish Council, said: "We have this noise 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year. It just never ends.

"I've had special windows designed for hotels near to motorways installed in the bedroom, but what happens if we want to open the window?

"My husband can only sit in the garden for half an hour before having to go inside, because the noise is like a drill."

Library assistant Vicky Turnbull, aged 54, moved into her house 24 years ago, but is looking to move.

"We put the house up for sale because we're looking to down-size, but now we know there's no noise barriers we think people will say, 'I can't stand that'.

"The bedroom at the back of the house has never been used, because it's just too loud."

Retired Elaine Reeves, aged 62, said the road is now so busy she can barely use her garden.

"We moved here 30 years ago when there was barely any noise, but it's so busy now and the wagons are really loud. Sometimes my husband will be talking to me from the other side of the garden and I won't even be able to hear him."

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said: "We apologise for the administrative error that gave some residents the impression that they would benefit from noise fencing, where only standard fencing was being replaced.

"We only invest in new noise fencing where sound levels meet pre-determined criteria."

Stone MP Bill Cash, who has received several letters and a petition from residents, said he is supporting calls for the barriers to be extended.

"Many have been left in a position where they have no noise protection and are forced to put up with constant noise," he said.

"There has been immense distress caused to many who have discovered that the insulated fencing will not be continued past their properties."

The Blythe Bridge section of the A50 was originally built as a bypass from Stoke to Uttoxeter in 1984, but traffic levels have rocketed since it became a trunk road linking the M1 and M6 in the early 1990s.