THOUSANDS of families plagued by an earsplitting noise from Fawley refinery have been told: "You're nightmare is over."

Esso ExxonMobil claims to have solved the problem that has made life a misery for people living in the shadow of the huge petrochemical complex.

For the past two years residents have had to put up with a deafening roar that sounded like a jet engine.

The noise stemmed from a new catalytic cracker, the huge machine at the heart of the oil production process at the 1,250-acre site.

Last year the refinery attempted to solve the problem by installing a £2m silencer and increasing the width of the cracker's chimney stack.

However, the din continued, prompting a furious reaction from people living within earshot of the plant.

Now Esso ExxonMobil has promised it has silenced the racket after a long and complex investigation involving noise experts from Britain and the US.

Fawley public affairs manager Delia Ponter announced the news in a presentation to a meeting of the New Forest environmental protection liaison committee.

Miss Ponter said investigators had located a noisy valve which, together with other equipment, had now been removed and replaced. She told the committee: "Our neighbours have noticed a difference in noise levels and it seems as though we have solved the problem.

"We are still monitoring the situation and analysing the data that we have collected so far, but the initial results are very encouraging."

Former parish councillor Mike Cooper confirmed that the noise had died down. He said: "We're still getting a certain amount of background noise but the horrendous roaring and whistling sound made by the cracker has abated. I live next to the Fawley bypass and traffic noise was often drowned out by the roar from the refinery. It was that bad.

"We couldn't sit out in our garden and had to keep our windows shut, even in hot weather. Everyone I know has bought fans or air conditioning."

Mr Cooper was one of many residents who complained that the racket was destroying their quality of life.

He added: "Fawley's 14,000 people all deserve a bit of peace and quiet, but all we got was noise, noise, noise."