The Scottish Government

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Dear Sir/Madam

Consultation on the draft Scottish Noise Management Guide

I enclose a copy of a Consultation paper entitled Consultation on the draft Scottish Noise Management Guide relating to guidance on the creation and maintenance of effective noise management policies and practices for Local Authorities and their officers in Scotland.

This guide has been produced to assist Local Authorities throughout Scotland to make decisions on the development of robust policies and how policies can be effectively implemented across the range of noise functions for which they are responsible.

The specific aim of the Scottish Executive, supported by Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland ( REHIS), was to produce a guide that will help local authorities to develop a common approach and consistency towards enforcement of the relevant statutory provisions as these relate to community noise.

It has never been the intention that every Local Authority should adopt every aspect of this Guide. The Guide recognises the wide diversity of Local Authorities across Scotland. It is anticipated that local authorities will need to carefully consider the contents, select those parts that are pertinent to the needs and circumstances of their district and ignore those elements that they do not consider relevant.

The Guide is intended to be a dynamic document and will be reviewed periodically to ensure its currency. It is designed to be practical and accessible to all users and in particular it aims:

• To encourage Local Authorities to develop noise policies and practices to meet their statutory obligations, informed by an objective assessment of the needs and circumstances of the communities and businesses in their district;

• To provide examples of 'good practices' in dealing with noise issues, drawn from the very real experiences of a cross section of Local Authorities across Scotland, as an aid to sharing experience and knowledge; and
• To encourage Local Authorities to critically review their noise services, including the allocation of resources to this function, within a Best Value framework (or any appropriate alternative model) and to determine where improvements can be made, having due regard to the particular needs and circumstances of their areas.

Responding to this consultation paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 20 ^th January 2006. The invitation to comment extends to every part of the paper and comments are welcome on any aspect. However, to assist the Department's analysis of responses, consultees are asked to use the response form provided. Please send your response to: noise@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or

This consultation, and all other Scottish Executive consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

Access to consultation responses

We will make all responses available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library and on the Scottish Executive website by 20 ^th February 2006. All responses not marked confidential will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library or placed on the website. A respondent information form which will help ensure we handle your response appropriately is attached to the response form.

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