Scottish Government
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Putting noise on the map
Maps which identify areas of urban Scotland and near major transport arteries which could have high levels of ambient noise have been published by the Scottish Government.
The strategic maps of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Scotland's main transport network and airports have been drawn up in accordance with the European Union's Environmental Noise Directive (END) which requires all Member States to do so by the end of this year for its major urban areas and transport centres.
Minister for Environment Michael Russell said:
"Excessive noise can cause misery and distress to everyone. It's often referred to as the forgotten pollutant but I am determined that from today, more is done to highlight the importance of tackling excessive noise.
"In Scotland we already have the most comprehensive antisocial noise regime in the UK, if not Europe and were one of the first countries in the world to introduce noise intervention levels.
"I am delighted that we are now able to release strategic noise maps for Edinburgh and Glasgow and for the major transport networks, into which a considerable amount of work has gone. I'm also told that Scotland is the first in UK to do this, which of course makes me very pleased indeed.
"They make interesting reading and pick up some areas where excessive noise may be a problem - but there are other areas which are less obvious, and clearly these need to be investigated.
"There are no instant solutions to the problems of noise pollution. This is a long term process. But the publication of these maps is the starting point of an exciting journey and will inform work to be done in the future. We are next required to determine the number of people impacted by excessive noise and then in conjunction with relevant local authorities develop and produce Action Plans for these areas by July 2008.
"We don't yet know the extent of the task but rest assured this work is designed to make Scotland a better - and quieter - place. I look forward to working with relevant stakeholders in Scotland to help achieve that task."
Martin Valenti from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is the project manager for the noise mapping project and has been working with the Scottish Executive on this for over a year. He said:
"It is vital that the public appreciate the noise maps are just the first stage in the process to manage environmental noise in Scotland. The real challenges lie ahead in preparing action plans to address noise, where it is deemed a problem. This work will be carried out by the designated working groups.
Environmental noise can be of great concern for many people living in urban environments particularly noise from transport. SEPA regulates noise from large industrial premises and will play a key role in preparing noise action plans."
The Hamilton and McGregor Acoustics Consultants lead a consortium who won the contract to develop and produce strategic noise maps by 30 June 2007. This involved the sourcing, cleaning and collating huge amounts of transport data, which were then processed to produce individual transport source maps, and amalgamated maps of the two qualifying urban agglomerations. The consortium are now working with the Scottish Government to establish regional steering groups, who will use the maps to identify noise management areas and quiet areas to inform the preparation of Action Plans by July 2008.
The European Community Environmental Noise Directive requires member states to produce and publish strategic noise maps of all transport sources (road, rail and air) over a certain volume and agglomerations above a certain size, which means Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland by June 2007. Member states are then required to use the maps to develop Action Plans by July 2008. This process is to be repeated five yearly.
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