Noises great and small

Having spent two days with no voice all the telephone calls had to be taken by my colleagues. Enormous thanks to them - be of good cheer, my voice is getting better all the time.
Last night and of course tonight the noise has been that of fireworks which seem to get bigger and louder every year. No complaints to me so far, but I'll be surprised if there aren't some in the next couple of days. More dangerous by far is the fact that some person or persons set fire to allotment huts last night at Egglescliffe Village Site. There have been allotments there for nigh on 100 years and in general they're lovingly tended by the tenants. It's heart-breaking to think that someone finds it amusing to cause so much damage. The fire brigade were called and did a good job but of course that's no consolation to those who've lost huts and their contents.
The other noise that's caused complaint is the Motor Cycle track which is operating without benefit of planning permission near the edge of our ward. The people on Hunters' Green estate and Orchard estate have suffered intermittently for the last few years with this and it seems as though the owners are just running rings round the planning, environmental health and enforcement sections.
Tonight I need to have a good look at the plans submitted for The Grange on Urlay Nook Rd as a neighbour of the site wants to discuss some of the issues with me tomorrow. It's a difficult problem because the Planning Inspector more or less said that SPG4 couldn't apply strictly to this site and the only problem with the previous application was the design. I know that the Planning Officer has worked very hard to try to reduce the impact of the application but it's still bigger than most of the surrounding residents want to see.