Council chiefs have admitted wasting £15,000 of taxpayers money after the wrong sized speed humps were installed on three roads in Willesden.

Residents in Donnington Road, Chambers Lane and Peter Avenue had complained that the humps were causing excessive noise and vibrations when skip lorries passed their homes.

Last month, Brent Council admitted the humps had been built too wide but refused to tell the Times the cost of fixing them.

But the figure was revealed when Cllr Suresh Kansagra, the leader of Brent’s Conservative Group, intervened in an email to Paul Chandler, Brent Council’s head of transportation environment and neighbourhoods.

Mr Chandler said: “The cost of making changes to the speed cushions in question was £15k.

“For now we have admitted our error and apologised to local people.

“We then undertook remedial works and the scheme is now fully compliant.

“We have no plans to remove the scheme or make further changes until the scheme has “bedded in” and we are able to review the relative success in terms of road safety benefits.”

Cllr Carol Shaw, who has lobbied the council on behalf of residents blighted by the humps, said: “That £15,000 could have been put towards keeping our libraries open in Brent and contributed towards things that affect people like tree pruning, mending potholes and repairing paving stones properly.

“This has been a big strain for the last three months.

To limit the noise and vibrations, the council has enforced a 7.5 tonnes weight restriction in the Donnington Road area by using CCTV camera vehicles.

“There are fewer lorries now but they will return when the blitz is over with the camera cars,” said Cllr Shaw.

“The only solution is to take the humps out and have another form of traffic calming, like proper speed cameras.

“I have nightmares about these three roads.”

Residents have complained of sleepless nights and likened the vibrations of passing skip lorries to an earthquake.

Others have said cracks are appearing in their properties.

Gino Chiappetta, of Donnington Road, said his hall ceiling collapsed as a result of vibrations.

Brent Council has launched an internal investigation into the blunder.