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1 Executive Summary
1.1 Background
The European Parliament and Council Directive for Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise 2002/49/EC, more commonly referred to as the Environmental Noise Directive ( END), was published in the Official Journal of The EU in July 2002. This directive deals with noise from road, rail, and air traffic, and from agglomerations. It focuses on the impact of such noise on individuals, complementing existing EU legislation, which sets standards for noise emissions from specific sources.
The three main objectives of the Directive are as follows.
- To determine the noise exposure of the population through noise mapping.
- To make information available on environmental noise to the public.
- To establish Action Plans based on the mapping results, to reduce noise levels where necessary, and to preserve environmental noise quality where it is good.
The Directive was implemented in Scotland by the Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations and lays down a two stage process to manage environmental noise.
Stage | Detail | Due Completion Date |
One | Produce strategic noise maps for major roads, rail, airports, and agglomerations by | June 30 2007 |
Two | Competent Authorities to draw up Action Plans to manage noise | 18 July 2008 |
Stage One, the creation of strategic noise maps, was the first stage in developing an environmental noise management programme for Scotland.
This guidance, designed to help in the implementation of Stage Two, sets out the proposed mechanisms and arrangements, including the formation of core and working groups, to prepare and draw up Action Plans. This document is provided to inform the public, give guidance to competent authorities, and provide a framework for all organisations involved in the Action Planning process.
The strategic noise maps are the starting point for Action Planning. Their initial analysis, using a prioritisation matrix developed as noted in Section 5 of this document, will provide a focus for deriving actions to reduce noise where it is deemed a problem. Thereafter Candidate Noise Management Areas ( CNMA), as described in Section 5.5, will be identified and further scrutinised by the Scottish Environmental Noise Steering Group ( SENSG) described in Section 3.3.
Action Plans shall be designed to manage, noise issues and effects, including noise reduction if necessary. Plans for agglomerations shall also aim to protect quiet areas against an increase in noise. The END lists the minimum requirements for the content of each Action Plan.
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