New evidence maps of transport noise have been drawn up to help road and rail operators decide on the best way to tackle noise pollution.
The series of noise maps released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) indicate the impact of road and rail noise in the 23 largest urban areas across England. Target areas where noise is a menace have been identified and the relevant authorities will now be expected to investigate these areas to see what noise mitigation measures can be carried out.
Authorities can propose measures such as sound barriers alongside roads, better road surfaces, and lower speed limits for drivers. Insulation such as secondary glazing might also be installed in affected homes.
Road and rail transport noise is not just unpleasant. Long term exposure to road noise for example has been linked to increased levels of stress, high blood pressure and even heart attacks. According to a 2008 Transport and Environment (T&E) report, 50,000 fatal heart attacks in Europe each year are attributed to rail and road traffic noise.
In response to this very real menace, the Government has been working to reduce the impact of road and rail noise, publishing yesterday its Noise Policy Statement for England (NPSE) which sets out noise management policy for the first time. This statement forms the Government’s long term vision to manage noise and improve health and quality of life to comply with the EU’s Noise Directive.
Environment Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: “Noise pollution can have a real impact on people’s lives and their health. We can’t just turn down the volume along major transport routes, which millions of people use every day, but we’re asking for local solutions to make sure the effects of noise are properly managed, in order to improve health and quality of life.”
Under the Environmental Noise Directive, ‘Noise Action Plans’ are to be set up in the following 23 urban areas, or ‘agglomerations’: Birkenhead, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Coventry, Hull, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Portsmouth, The Potteries (including Cheshire East, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stafford, Staffordshire Moorlands and Stoke on Trent), Preston, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, Southend, Teeside,Tyneside, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
The noisiest areas of England were identified through Defra’s series of “noise maps”, which established noise levels through computer modelling. The process of establishing quieter urban areas will begin in July 2010.
