Welcome to Environmental Noise Issues
It is clear that ambient noise is an issue of concern for the population especially those living in large cities and near major roads, railways and airports.
The European Parliament and Council Directive relating to the 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 concerns noise from road, rail and air traffic and from industry. It focuses on the impact of such noise on individuals, complementing existing EU legislation which sets standards for noise emissions from specific sources.
The Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006 came into force on 05 October 2006 and transpose the Directive into Scottish Legislation. The Regulations are accompanied by an Executive Note and and Full Regulatory Impact Assessment. In European legislation the UK is deemed to represent the member state. However, in the UK environmental noise is a Devolved matter and the requirements of the Directive will therefore be taken forward separately in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
The aim of the END is to define a common approach across the European Union with the intention of avoiding, preventing or reducing on a prioritised basis the harmful effects, including annoyance, due to exposure to environmental noise. This will involve:
- informing the public about environmental noise and its effects;
- the preparation of strategic noise maps for: large urban areas (referred to as 'agglomerations' in the END and in these regulations), major roads, major railways and major airports as defined in the END and
- preparing action plans based on the results of the noise mapping exercise. Such plans will aim to manage and reduce environmental noise where necessary, and preserve environmental noise quality where it is good.
A strategic noise map is a method of presenting complex information on sound levels and/or exposure in a clear and simple way either on a physical map or in a database. Action plans are plans which will contain a number of measures that will be taken to manage noise and reduce it where necessary.
Consultants Hamilton &McGregor Acoustics Division were commissioned by the Scottish Executive to under take a study to inform the strategic noise mapping process required under the terms of the Directive. This research , published on November 16 2005, has identified where the process of data handling can be automated with minimal manual intervention.
A Scottish Executive consultation, supported by a partial Regulatory Impact Assessment, sought views from all stakeholders with an interest in environmental noise issues on proposals to transpose and implement Directive 2002/49/EC on the assessment and management of environmental noise. We received 30 responses in total to the consultation document and every response has been published on the SE website. These responses were taken into account when making the regulations.