Again, money over people, perpetrators over victims.

No, I am not a sad old lady. I am young and creative, with a life - the quality of which is being ruined by constant invasion and lack of sleep.

I have lived and tried to work in Oriental Place, Brighton, for a year - I am moving as soon as I can afford to - and this has been the first month I have not had to put up with builders, painters and so on.

They have been banging, drilling, singing, shouting and playing music constantly (loud enough for them to be able to hear it over their banging).

As soon as one building project is finished, another starts, all in a rush to join the £600-a-month "studio flat" brigade.

Bad enough is all the other noise from the neighbours' late-night parties and constant shouting in the street.

People here don't seem to have doorbells, either, so their visitors shout out to them, mostly to someone called "Niew" (if you are reading, get a bell before someone thumps you).

Those people with doorbells seem to have lazy visitors who would rather deny me my Saturday lie-in, beeping their horns at 6am, than bother to get out of their cars to ring the bell.

As I hold my breath, I hear some more knocking in the street outside. I see a double-glazing van - it must be for a basement flat. We, on the other floors, are not lucky enough to be allowed to put in double-glazing.

Laws exist that forbid loud noises at ungodly hours so we can at least sleep but they are not dealt with by anyone other than Brighton and Hove City Council (between 10am and 2pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays).

Have you ever tried to get the council to do anything about noise? And am I expected to wander about at 3am on my own trying to locate the party so I can report whose it was?

Could the council not place restrictions on the amount of building works taking place in a given locality?

Perhaps it could get them all to work at the same time. And, please, could the police take noise nuisance more seriously and reclaim the responsibility of dealing with it while it is happening.

-Sharon Roberts, Oriental Place, Brighton