Scottish Government

2 Background and Context

2.1 The European Directive on Environmental Noise

The European Union has estimated http://ec.europa.eu/environment/noise/greenpap.htm situ

that around 20 percent of the EU's population, or close on 80 million people, suffer from noise levels that scientists and health experts consider unacceptable. They are annoyed, their sleep is disturbed and adverse health effects are expected. An additional 170 million people experience noise levels causing serious annoyance during daytime http://ec.europa.eu/environment/noise/greenpap.htm.

With this background, there is clear need to manage environmental noise on a national and local scale.

One of the first steps in embarking on a programme of noise management is to quantify the current noise climate. This provides a solid basis for formulating environmental noise management policy. To ensure parity for this across the European Union the European Parliament and Council adopted Directive 2002/49/ EC. This Directive has since been transposed into the Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2006/20060465.htm .

The Directive requires competent authorities in Member States to draw up "strategic noise maps" for major roads, railways, airports and agglomerations, using harmonised noise indicators Lden (day-evening-night equivalent level) and Lnight (night equivalent level).

The Directive requires that the public is informed and consulted about noise exposure, its effects, and the measures considered to address noise, in line with the principles of the Aarhus Convention ( http://ec.europa.eu/environment/aarhus). The Aarhus Convention established a number of rights of the public (individuals and their associations) with regard to the environment. The Parties to the Convention are required to make the necessary provisions so that public authorities (at national, regional or local level) will contribute to these rights to become effective.

The process of provision of information, consultation, and ultimate decision making on the issues of noise management is known as the Action Planning Process and this document sets out the Action Plan for the Glasgow Agglomeration following round 1 of the mapping process. The Action Plans are intended to manage environmental noise and will provide strategies for the reduction of environmental noise where it is deemed necessary. It is important to note that the Directive does not set any limit value, nor does it prescribe the measures to be used in the Action Plans, which remain at the discretion of the competent authorities.

2.2 The Legal Context

The Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006 came into force on 5 ^th October 2006 and apply to environmental noise to which humans are exposed, in particular in built up areas, public parks or other quiet areas in an agglomeration, near schools, hospitals, and other noise sensitive buildings and areas. The regulations apply to noise from road railway and airport sources, as well as industrial noise. The regulations do not apply to noise that is caused by the person exposed to the noise, noise from domestic activities, noise created by neighbours, noise at work places, or noise inside means of transport or due to military activities in military areas.

Noise from domestic activities or noise created by neighbours can be dealt with under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. Part 5 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 contains provisions in relation to antisocial noise and in particular gives local authorities additional powers to tackle the problems of domestic noise in dwellings. Noise exposure at work is governed by the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 and noise from construction site is controlled by the Control of Pollution Act 1974. Further information on the legislation referred to here can be obtained from;

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/ERADEN/EcolAU/00017824/nlr_rpt.pdf .

Details of Draft Noise Management Guide Guidance on the Creation and Maintenance of Effective Noise Management Policies and Practice for Local Authorities and their Officers in Scotland can be obtained from;

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/77843/0018687.pdf .)

At present where noise from a new or altered road exceeds a certain trigger level, and meets other qualifying criteria, the Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1973 provides for insulation work to be carried out or a grant to be made in respect of that insulation work. "Altered" road is defined within the Noise Insulation (Scotland) Regulations 1975 ( NISR). Under the NISR, the Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1973 also confers a right to compensation for depreciation in the value of land caused by public works. Public works do not include aerodromes.

Noise from lawful use of existing roads and railways cannot be construed as a noise nuisance in terms of the Environmental Protection Act. Noise from new roads and new railways may also be controlled by conditions attached as part of the Parliamentary Bill process.

The railway equivalent of the NISR is the Noise Insulation (Railways and other Guided Transport Systems) Regulations 1996. However, the provisions of the 1996 Regulations, which came into force under the Land Compensation Act 1973, do not extend to Scotland. However, there is, in the Edinburgh Agglomeration a noise and vibration policy that covers the operation of the planned tram system. This policy is intended to provide a similar level of protection to the residents of Edinburgh as is available in the NISR.

Noise from aircraft in flight is not treated as nuisance. Ground noise, other than normal aircraft movements, at the airport may be controlled by the local authority. Most airports operate a sound insulation grant scheme for people living nearby airports, and information on the insulation scheme can be obtained from the relevant airport.

The Scottish Government also issues planning guidance in respect of various noise related issues in the form of planning advice notes such as Planning Advice Note 56 "Planning and Noise" and Planning Advice Note 50 "Controlling the Environmental Effects of Surface Mineral Working, Annex A: The Control of Noise at Surface Mineral Working." In more general terms Planning Advice Note 51: Planning, Environmental Protection and Regulation supports the existing policy on the role of the planning system in relation to the environmental protection regimes. As part of the Action Plan, PAN 56 will be revised to align with the Action Planning Process.

An environmental impact assessment is required for a large range of projects which are likely to have significant environmental effects. Noise emissions are one of the impacts which have to be considered and, if relevant, measures to mitigate the effects should be proposed. The implementation of the mitigation measures are a matter for the consenting procedure and the responsible authority.

Industrial noise for Part A and Part B process (as defined within the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000) is controlled through The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (the PPC Regulations). These regulations designate the Scottish Environment Protection Agency ( SEPA) as the 'Regulator' responsible for enforcing the regime.

As part of its role as regulator, SEPA produces guidance for use in enforcing the PPC Regulations. SEPA has produced guidance on the control of noise at PPC installations, which will be used when considering applications for, and inspections of PPC installations. For non Part A and B process the control of noise is exercised by the relevant local authority.

From the above it is clear that there are existing controls in respect of operational industrial sources, but at present controls over operational transportation sources are limited to the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations and BS3425 which although they provide a degree of control over excessive exhaust noise they do not provide a very practical solution to the problem. The preparation of noise mapping and action plans affords an opportunity to inform policy on such matters.

It is important that the Action Planning process takes into account the existing legislative and guidance framework that exists within Scotland.

2.3 Introduction to Strategic Noise Maps

The maps have, in accordance with the requirements of the Regulations, been produced for the first round mapping for all roads (essentially motorways and A roads) which have more than 6 million passages per year, as well as all roads within the Edinburgh agglomeration which exceed the qualifying flow of 1000 vehicles or more per day. Similarly for rail the first round railways are those which have more than 60,000 train passages per year as well as all railways within the Edinburgh agglomeration.

A noise map is analogous to a weather map, but instead of showing a temperature or percentage cloud cover it show noise levels in terms of coloured contour bands. Also the noise levels represent the noise to be experienced within a certain area over a given period of time. Therefore the level may vary throughout the day or even on a daily basis as the noise map will display levels based on annual averages.

It is important to appreciate that the maps produced show an average noise level for an average day in the year calculated on the basis of a 10m grid a height of 4m above ground level as required by Directive 2002/49/ EC. As was stated above the noise maps are based on predicted noise levels using a 10m grid spacing therefore the value of the "grid" is determined by the centre point of the grid and therefore in reality there may be some variation within the grid. Also, with a receptor point at 4m above ground level and the average "ear" at about 1.2-1.5m above ground level, it should be clear that the strategic maps cannot be used to determine the level for any specific property. It would therefore be a mistake to try to categorise any site at ground floor level in terms of the Noise Exposure Categories given in the Scottish Government Planning Advice Note 56 ( PAN 56) (Scottish Noise Mapping). Once again it is important to remember that the noise maps are strategic and they will be used accordingly. They should not be taken to be fully representative of all local circumstances for example, localised garden walls and fences are not taken into account in the production of strategic noise maps. It is likely that more detailed examination will be necessary in some of these situations as any required local Action Plans are developed.

The data required for the calculations of noise levels have been determined by consultation with various organisations including Transport Scotland, SEPA, Network Rail, British Airports Authority, Local Authorities, and others.

The maps are produced using computer based three dimensional noise models. This process requires the acquisition of information about the noise source and the path of propagation. The specialised software used takes account of physical features such as buildings and the ground contours. The grid information is then calculated and thereafter used to create the series of noise contours bands as shown drawn in the noise maps ( Scottish Noise Mapping ).

The END and Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006 refer to noise descriptors, namely L _den, L _day and L _night.

The day-evening-night level L _den in decibels (dB) is defined by the following formula:

in which:

• L _day is the A-weighted long-term average sound level as defined in ISO 1996-2: 1987, determined over all the day periods of a year,
• L _evening is the A-weighted long-term average sound level as defined in ISO 1996-2: 1987, determined over all the evening periods of a year,
• L _night is the A-weighted long-term average sound level as defined in ISO 1996-2: 1987, determined over all the night periods of a year;

The default values for the day, evening and night time periods are 07:00 to 19:00, 19:00 to 23:00 and 23:00 to 07:00 respectively.

2.3.1 Airport Maps

There is sometimes confusion with the END airport noise contours and the noise contours presently produced by the airport operators for use in the planning process. The END requires the maps to represent the annual average values. This contrasts with the common UK practice of producing aircraft noise contours for the average summer's day using L _eq,(16hour) whilst END uses an annual average L _den. It must be remembered that the annual average L _den indicator is different from the summer average 16 hour L _Aeq,24hr indicator that has traditionally been used to describe the noise exposure from the airport. Thus the two sets of results are not comparable and should not be confused. Instead they should simply be seen as two methods of describing average noise exposure around the airport.

2.4 Data Reported to the European Commission

This Action Plan explains how the noise maps have been presented to the public and it also provides advice on understanding the maps. All member states were required to produce agglomeration strategic noise maps for major roads, rail, airports, and industry (including port area if appropriate) by the end of June 2007. The Scottish Government met this target and the data, as required under Article 10(2) of the Environmental Noise Directive (2002/49/ EC), was submitted by the Scottish Government on the 19th December 2007 to the European Commission.

As part of the Action Plan an analysis of the population exposure with respect to noise from both individual and, where appropriate, combined noise sources covered by the Directive is presented below for the Edinburgh Agglomeration.

Population Exposure For Noise Sources Mapped Per The Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/ EC ( END)

2.5 Description of the Agglomeration

The agglomeration comprises approximately 261km ². The biggest local authority within the agglomeration is the City of Edinburgh Council. A small part of Midlothian Council and a small part of East Lothian Council fall within the agglomeration boundary. For the purposes of Strategic Noise mapping the agglomeration included a 2km buffer to ensure that any environmental noise effects from just outside the boundary were taken into account. This area is included within the action plan study area, to ensure that any policies or plans affecting transportation or industrial noise from out with the agglomeration boundary are properly considered.

The city is bounded by Green Belt. It has an airport which lies outside the agglomeration boundary and a seaport at Leith.

Edinburgh is the Capital city of Scotland with a population of approximately 450,000. Edinburgh is a university city, the locus for much employment in the surrounding region and a tourist centre. It is estimated that the non-residential population of Edinburgh increases by 55,000 commuters and during term time by 10,000 students. It is further estimated that at the peak of the tourist season the population is increased by some 400,000 tourists.

Census information estimates 164,980 cars in the city. Of the 204,683 households, 80,891 have no car. There are approximately 1500km of roads and 400 bridges within the agglomeration.

The most significant imminent changes to the noise climate in the Edinburgh agglomeration both now and in the future are, the development of the Edinburgh tram system and major housing developments, at Edinburgh waterfront, within the agglomeration and two housing developments at Shawfair and Wallyford which both lie just outside the boundary but within the study area. The new developments amount to a population increase of approximately 55,000.

2.6 Requirement For Action Plans

It is a requirement of END that an Action Plan be prepared. Action Planning is the process whereby environmental noise, as described in the Regulations, will be managed. Clearly the agglomeration Action Plans must cover the area of the agglomeration. Outside agglomerations Action Plans must be developed for places 'near' the designated major sources. The Scottish Government has defined the term "places near" in terms of levels of exposure that were reported to the Commission: i.e. out to the L _den 55dB and L _night 50dB contour bands in a noise map (see Annex VI of the END). The distance noise propagates from linear sources such as major roads and railways depends on the surrounding features. To take account of this a buffer area of 2km has been created around the agglomerations and main transport sources in the mapping process. However, in the case of relevant airports the distance to the L _den 55 dB and L _night 50 dB contours may be greater and the mapped area extended to cover this as required.

The need to manage noise implies a potential adverse impact on health. The relationship between exposure to noise and health effects at noise levels experienced in everyday environments is a complex one. The World Health Organisations guidance suggests that hearing loss does not occur in normal environmental noise situations below a L _Aeq of about 70dB. It should be noted that the effects of noise on hearing is a function of the level of noise and the length of exposure to the noise. Hence it is normal to consider only "non-auditory" health effects.

2.7 Health Effects

There are a wide range of non-auditory health effects that may be associated with exposure to environmental noise. Examples of non auditory health effects include:

• Annoyance;
• Sleep disturbance;
• Mental health;
• Cardiovascular effects, hypertension, heart disease etc;
• Cognitive performance of children.

Over the years, many reviews of the effects of noise on health have been conducted and published. Examples can be seen in Section 8.

Such reviews have considered the "strength of evidence" for each of the main areas of potential effect, in terms of the categories proposed by the International Agency of the Research on Cancer ( IARC) as 'sufficient', 'limited', 'inadequate' or 'lacking'. The categories are defined as follows:

• Sufficient: a relationship has been observed between noise exposure and a specific health effect, chance, bias, and confounding factors can be ruled out with reasonable confidence;
• Limited: an association has been observed between noise exposure and a specific health effect, chance, bias, and confounding factors cannot be ruled out with reasonable confidence;
• Inadequate: the available studies are of insufficient quality, lack the consistency or statistical power to permit a conclusion regarding the presence of absence of a causal relationship;
• Lacking: several adequate studies are mutually consistent in not showing a positive association between exposure and health effect.

When one considers the overall picture provided by these various reviews, and the issue of availability of reliable quantitative relationships between noise exposure and effects (also sometimes called Dose-effect relationships), then three health effects remain which might be used in Action Plans:

• Annoyance;
• Sleep disturbance; and
• Cognitive effects on schoolchildren.

Following some lengthy consideration, the Scottish Government have at this stage in the work included the "Annoyance" health effect in the development of the prioritisation matrix. However, as research work progresses and further information becomes available from authoritative sources on the remaining two health effects the input data to the prioritisation matrix could be enhanced over time. The development of the prioritisation matrix is explained in Section 4.

2.8 Public Consultations

This Edinburgh Agglomeration Draft Action Plan is one of 6 Draft plans which are all the subject of consultation under the Environmental Noise Directive. Following the consultations the Scottish Government intend to consider the responses and finalise Action Plans. The Transportation Action Plan and the Glasgow Agglomeration plans are also published on the Scottish Government website. The airport Action Plans are published on the websites for the relevant airports.

The plans will be the subject of a Strategic Environmental Assessment which will also cover the airport plans. It is anticipated that the Strategic Environmental Assessment will be produced in the autumn and will be the subject of a further consultation. This timetable will subject to the results of the consultation exercises allow the Scottish Government to submit a summary of the Action Plans to the European Commission in January 2009 as required by the Directive.

This is not the first consultation on issues relating to the END. 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 Scottish Government website. These responses were taken into account when making the regulations.

In addition a Consultation on Noise Action Planning Guidance, sought views from all stakeholders on our approach to Noise Action planning and responses to this document were generally supportive. It is considered that this Draft Plan follows the Guidance issued.

The following is a list of the principal organisations being consulted, although responses from others including members of the public are welcomed.

AA Scotland
Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen Airport
Aberdeenshire Council
Action of Churches Together in Scotland
Age Concern Scotland
Angus Council
Argyll and Bute Council
Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland
Association of Noise Consultants
Association of Port Health Authorities

BAA Scottish Airports
Board of Social Responsibility
British Aerospace Defence Systems
British Ports Association
British Standard Institution

Catholic Parliamentary Office
Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland
Church of Scotland Offices
City of Edinburgh Council
Civil Engineering Contractors Association (Chief Executive)
Clackmannanshire Council
Confederation of British Industry (Scotland)
Confederation of Passenger Transport (Scotland)
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities

Defra
Department of the Environment Northern Ireland
Dumfries and Galloway Council
Dundee Airport
Dundee City Council

East Ayrshire Council
East Dunbartonshire Council
East Lothian Council
East Renfrewshire Council
Edinburgh Airport Ltd
Evangelical Alliance (Scotland) (Parliamentary Officer)

Falkirk Council
Fife Council
Forest Industries Development Council (Chairman)
Forestry and Timber Association (Scottish Chairman)
Forum of Private Business
Freight Transport Association
Friends of the Earth Scotland

Glasgow Airport Ltd
Glasgow City Council

Headquarters Air Member for Logistics (Chief Executive and Safety Officer, RAF)
Highland Council
Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd Highland and Islands Enterprise
Historic Burghs Association of Scotland

Independent ( MSP,)
Independent ( MSP, )
Independent ( MSP,)
Institute of Acoustics
Institute of Civil Engineers
Inverclyde Council
IOM (Director or Risk and Medical Services)

Midlothian Council
Ministry of Defence - DSEF
Moray Council

Napier University ( UK Noise Association)
NFU Scotland
Noise Abatement Society
Noise Management
Noise Network
North Ayrshire Council
North Lanarkshire Council

Environmental Protection UK (Scotland)
Orkney Islands Council

Pedestrians Association for Road Safety, Edinburgh
Perth and Kinross Council
RAC Scotland
Rail Freight Group
Railtrack Scotland
Rail Users Consultative Committee for Scotland
Ramblers Association
Renfrewshire Council
Road Haulage Association Ltd
Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland
Royal National Institute for Deaf People
Royal National Institute for the Blind
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (Scottish Director)
Royal Society of Chemistry

SACRO
Scotrail
Scottish Borders Council
Scottish Chambers of Commerce
Scottish Civic Forum
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Scottish Council for Development and Industry
Scottish Clyde Campaign Network
Scottish Engineering
Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Environment LINK
Scottish Federation of Small Businesses
Scottish Green Party
Scottish Inter Faith Council
Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Landowners Federation
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Scottish National Party
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Socialist Party
Scottish Trades Union Congress
Scottish Wildlife Trust
SEPA
Shetland Islands Council
SNV Consultants
South Ayrshire Council
South Lanarkshire Council
Sportsscotland
Stagecoach Holdings PLC
St Columbas Episcopal Church
Stirling Council
Strathclyde Passenger Transport

The Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland
The Chartered Institute of Transport
The Chartered Institute of Water and Environment
The City of Edinburgh Council
The Highland Council
The Moray Council
The Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland
The Scottish Civic Trust
The WS Society
Transport And General Workers Union

Welsh Assembly
West Dunbartonshire Council
West Lothian Council
Western Isles Council
WWF Scotland