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Excerpt from the British Government Panel on Sustainable Development Sixth Report, February 2000 Noise nuisance “Noise, poor air quality, litter, graffiti, vandalism, dereliction and vacant properties may be symptoms of wider problems, but can themselves promote a spiral of degradation." "Noise adds to stress and poor air quality damages health.” A better quality of life: A strategy for Sustainable development for the UK Cm 4354 May 1999 Para 7.63. Increases in noise levels have been linked to economic prosperity but lead to a reduction in quality of life. But what constitutes noise nuisance is largely subjective. There is no direct relationship between sound levels and noise. One person’s noise can be another person’s music. Unlike many pollutants, noise is in itself a transient problem in that it does not accumulate in the environment. There are poorly understood and highly complex relationships between noise exposure and human responses, and easily quantifiable dose-response relationships do not exist for noise at levels encountered in the outdoor environment. Noise control policy has evolved over the last 40 years, and a large somewhat piecemeal body of legislation and guidance exists. The linkage between legislation and remedies to noise pollution, whether domestic, traffic, or industrial is poor. A more integrated approach is called for. A significant omission is lack of requirement at either national or local levels for the monitoring, review and assessment of noise levels. Noise nuisance is a rural as well as an urban phenomenon. Tranquillity, implying low levels of ambient noise, is one of the defining characteristics of rural areas. There is a clear need to establish noise-free areas as well as improvement of legislation against noisy industries and other noise activities in towns. Within the European Union there are proposals for a Directive on Noise Mapping, which, although reasonable in principle, could raise difficult issues, particularly in raising public expectations. It is important that the Government should make up its own mind, not least over the feasibility of applying such a Directive, and contribute to discussions of it before it is agreed and put into effect. At present responsibility for noise appears divided among different functional areas in different Government Departments, with relatively limited co-ordinating responsibilities falling to the Noise Policy Branch of the Air & Environmental Quality Division of the Department of Environment, Transport and Regions (DETR). Staff directly employed on noise in DETR appear to be no more than one-tenth of those employed on air pollution. While levels of air, water and other major pollutants are falling, noise levels appear to be constant or increasing. The Panel believes that there should be more recognition by the Government that noise can have a detrimental impact on quality of life in both urban and rural areas. There needs to be a clearer and more comprehensive approach to noise legislation. The importance of protecting tranquillity, and the inclusion of tranquillity as a key resource in environmental appraisals of development plans, should be recognised in national planning guidance. The use and enforcement of planning conditions should also seek to minimise the impacts of noise from new development. Planning policy must recognise that the relative increase in ambient noise levels is sometimes more important than absolute changes. Noise levels should be monitored, reviewed and assessed both at national and local levels. When noise reduction techniques are available, as is frequently the case, they should be applied universally. A good example is that of quiet road surfacing materials which in terms of performance and cost compare favourably with existing noisier surfacing materials. Failure to act soon may result in the noise problem escalating to one of major public concern. Link to the government web-site:- http://www.open.gov.uk/panel-sd/homesd.htm |