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Consultation on proposals for transposition and implementation of Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise

5. Roads

5.1. The END requires the mapping of noise from 'major roads' which must be designated by Member States in line with the definition set out in the END. In agglomerations, noise will need to be mapped from every road which is likely to produce noise levels of greater than 55 dB L_den or 50 dB L_night at 4 metres above ground level. In order to ensure that this objective is met, we propose to map all roads within agglomerations with flows of 1000 vehicles or more per day (the lower limit is equivalent to 0.35 million passages per annum).

5.2. Action plans for managing, and reducing if necessary, noise from major roads must then be drawn up on the basis of the results of the noise maps. In agglomerations the action plans must also take into account noise from other roads as well.

Definition of Major roads

5.3. The END defines a major road as: '[a] regional, national or international road, designated by the Member State, which has more than 3 million vehicle passages per annum’ (approximately 8,200 vehicles per day) (Article 3(n)). However, for the first round of mapping the qualifying threshold is 6 million vehicle passages per annum (Article 7, paragraph1). The Scottish Executive understands 'vehicle passages' as meaning the number of vehicles passing in either direction past a given point along a length of road. The END requires that, no later than 30 June 2005, Member States shall inform the Commission of the major roads which have more than 6 million vehicle passages a year (Article 7, paragraph 1). Therefore to do this we will need to assess each regional, national, and international road in terms of the number of vehicles using them (i.e. traffic flow).

5.4. The terms international, national and regional used in the END definition of a major road are not normally applied to UK roads. These terms, therefore, need to be put into a UK context. For Scotland it would seem logical to define:

• international roads as those which make up part of the Trans European Road Network²⁴ (TERN); and
• national roads as any trunk road, that is a road for which the Scottish Ministers are responsible that is not on the TERN;

However, defining a regional road has proved more complicated.

5.5. Several options have been considered in order to define a regional road within the context of the UK:

• the remaining parts of the Primary Route Network (PRN)²⁵ that are not trunk roads;
• the Classified Principal Road Network (CPRN)²⁶; or
• all ‘A’ roads.

5.6. There are difficulties with all of the above definitions. The Scottish Executive believes that the most logical definition would be the first option whereby the PRN would be considered, for the purposes of the END, to cover regional roads. These roads are especially classified as a navigational route network between places of traffic importance and, as a classification, attract the greatest burden of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) traffic (which is a key concern in the emission of noise). The other options (the CPRN and the whole ‘A’ road network) encompass a huge length of road. Of these, many roads could not be considered to be of specifically regional importance.

5.7. Unfortunately interpreting ‘regional roads’ as only the remaining parts of the PRN that are not trunk roads would result in a failure to map some roads outside agglomerations above the 6 million vehicle threshold for the first round of mapping and some roads outside agglomerations above the 3 million threshold for the subsequent rounds of mapping. A significant proportion of those roads over the thresholds comprise ‘A’ roads. The Scottish Executive is concerned that this may lead to problems with implementation.

5.8. On balance the Scottish Executive recommends that the remaining parts of the PRN that are not trunk roads is the most appropriate means of defining regional roads. In practice, adopting the Scottish Executive’s proposals would mean that major roads to be considered under the END will consist of motorways and the Primary Route Network.

5.9. Therefore, in order to comply with the terms of the END, the Scottish Executive proposes that the Regulations will designate as major roads those sections of the motorways and the Primary Route Network which carry more than 3 million vehicles per annum (6 million per annum in the first round). A map of the roads to be mapped can be found in Annex B.

Q5.1: Do you agree with the proposed definition of international and national major roads?

Q5.2: Do you agree with the proposed definition of the Primary Route Network (PRN) as the major regional roads?

Q5.3: Can you propose an alternative solution to the problem of the definition of regional roads? If so, how could it be applied across Scotland on a consistent basis?

Assessment method for road traffic noise indicators

5.10. As discussed in Chapters 2 and 3, the END requires that strategic noise maps using the noise indicators L_den and L_night are made for major roads. The END allows Member States to determine values of L_den and L_night by either computation or measurement. The Scottish Executive proposes that noise assessment, as in the rest of the UK should be carried out by computation (supported where appropriate by validation measurement) given the cost and technical difficulties associated with measurement. If a Member State decides to use computation, then the END initially gives a choice of using national computation methods or the recommended interim computation methods. Once adopted, the END will require Member States to use the harmonised computation methods. These are currently being developed through EU-funded projects such as Harmonoise and Imagine.

5.11. A national method already exists for the assessment of traffic noise, and is included in the Memorandum on Noise Insulation (Scotland) Regulation 1975 and is similar to the Calculation of Road Traffic Noise (CRTN)²⁷method used in the rest of the UK. However, this method produces results in terms of the LA10 indicator. To meet the requirements of the END we would have to adapt this method to generate the indicators L_den and L_night. Following research, an adaptation protocol has been determined, that enables the LA10,18 values to be converted to L_den and L_night depending on the type of road²⁸. Consequently, the Scottish Executive proposes to use this adapted version of CRTN to generate the necessary information for roads traffic noise until the harmonised method is available. More information on the process for generating noise levels in these indicators can be found in Chapter 3.

Q5.4: Do you agree with the use of the adapted version of 'CRTN' for calculating road traffic noise until the harmonised method is adopted by the Commission?

Designation of the competent authority to make maps of road traffic noise from major roads

5.12. As explained in Chapter 2, the Scottish Executive proposes that the Scottish Ministers should be the competent authority for making noise maps for all major roads. The competent authority’s functions will include collecting and collating the data to make the noise maps and then using that data to produce the noise maps. The Scottish Ministers will need to enter into agreements with other organisations and possibly commercial companies in order to fulfil some of these functions.

5.13. There are a number of options available to take the mapping forward after the designation of the Scottish Ministers as the competent authority. These are:

i) Scottish Executive undertaking the mapping; that is, officials, possibly through the letting of contracts to technical consultants;
ii) Scottish Executive Agencies or other non-local authority bodies undertaking the mapping under agreement with the Scottish Ministers;
iii) Local roads authorities undertaking the mapping under agreement with the Scottish Ministers.

5.14. The Scottish Executive favours option (i), with Scottish Executive officials making the road traffic noise maps on the Scottish Ministers behalf through the letting of contract(s) to specialist noise mapping consultants.

5.15. The Scottish Executive is proposing this approach to making maps of road traffic noise because it has a number of advantages:

• Scottish Executive officials already have access to a large amount of the necessary data so potentially reducing administration and costs;
• One organisation co-ordinating the mapping process and the efforts of the organisation or authorities will avoid duplication and is more likely to ensure consistency in the approach to noise mapping, particularly in the quality and form of the data collected; and
• It provides a relatively simple approach that can be easily modified should the need arise.

5.16. We do not propose, at this stage, that Local Authorities should be named as competent authorities as there might be difficulty in achieving a consistency of approach and access to the range of data required. Also it is possible that not all Local Authorities currently have the resources and experience in the field necessary to carry out the work. However, should the majority of Local Roads Authorities express a wish to be more heavily involved in the preparation of the maps, the Scottish Executive envisages that option iii) could be introduced at a later stage when practical experience of implementing the END has been established. Any change would be subject to consultation at the appropriate time.

Q5.5: Do you agree with the proposal that Scottish Executive officials produce the road traffic noise maps (through the letting of contracts) on the Scottish Ministers behalf?

Q5.6: Would you support the Scottish Ministers entering into agreements with Local roads authorities for the production of road traffic noise maps at some point in the future?

Data Requirements for Making Road Traffic Noise Maps

5.17. In order to make the maps, data will need to be collected and supplied to the organisation carrying out the mapping. The adapted version of 'CRTN' uses the following parameters to calculate noise levels:

Road Traffic Input Data

• Road Traffic flow;
• Percentage of heavy vehicles (1525kg or more unladen weight);
• Speed;
• 1 or 2 way traffic;
• Road surface type.

Geographical Input Data

• Gradient of road;
• Location of road;
• Ground height;
• Ground cover – i.e. whether the ground is hard or soft;
• Location of buildings;
• Information on type of road;
• Information on bridges, cuttings, embankments and tunnels;
• Building height;
• Location and height of local barriers.

5.18. It is anticipated, based on experience to date, that the necessary data would be supplied through provision by the Scottish Executive other organisations and agencies or through existing commercial arrangements. It may also be necessary for the Scottish Executive to obtain some data from local roads authorities. The contract let to make the maps could include provisions for the collection of data. The data would then be modified for use where necessary before it was entered into the noise calculation model. In the event that some data were found to be unavailable the Scottish Executive would follow the suggested approach for generating data as proposed in WG-AEN’s GPG²⁹

Q5.7: Do you agree with the proposed list of data that will be needed to produce the maps and their potential sources?

Q5.8: Do you agree with the proposed use of the WG-AEN Good Practice Guide Toolkits for the generation of any necessary missing data?

Designation of the competent authority for making road traffic noise action plans

5.19. As discussed in Chapters 2 and 4, the END requires that once the strategic noise maps are made, action plans to manage and, where necessary, reduce noise are made. The Scottish Executive proposes that the Scottish Ministers should be the competent authority for developing road action plans. The Scottish Ministers will need to enter into agreements with other organisations and possibly commercial companies in order to fulfil some of their functions. The relevant authorities or organisations would be consulted before any requirements, legally binding or otherwise, would be placed on them.

5.20. There are a number of options available to take the making of action plans forward after the designation of the Scottish Ministers as the competent authority. However, the Scottish Executive favours the general approach as set out in Chapter 4 on the basis that key partners with the powers to implement measures to control noise should be tasked to make the draft action plans, on behalf of the Scottish Ministers, in their respective area. In the case of road traffic noise action plans we propose that the roads authorities would be nominated as the key partners to draw up plans to manage noise for places near the major roads for which they are responsible. This would result in a number of local action plans.

5.21. It is proposed that these key partners develop proposals for their action plans seeking close consultation with other relevant authorities, in particular those likely to have the power to implement the plans and to seek a means of receiving input from the public (possibly through local residents groups or open workshops). The Scottish Executive proposes that the regulations should incorporate a requirement for the key partner to consult certain other organisations. For roads we suggest that this might include:

• local authorities whose area the roads mapped cross or borders;
• local roads authorities responsible for roads in bordering areas; and
• the key partners working up action plans for other sources or agglomerations within or bordering the relevant area.

This list is not exhaustive. It would also be expected that the key partner would include relevant stakeholders of local importance.

5.22. The key partner would then put the draft action plan proposals out to public consultation. Once the public consultation has taken place, the key partner would amend the draft plan in the light of comments made during the consultation and would submit the draft for the Scottish Ministers’s approval. Once the Scottish Ministers have approved that the draft plan as complete and in accordance with the END they would forward the finalised plan to the Commission and the plan would be published. More details on how the generic action plan process would work are set out in Chapter 4.

Q5.9: Do you agree with this proposed approach to drawing up road noise action plans?

Q5.10: Do you agree with the list of consultees to be stipulated in the regulations?

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