Transportation: noise action plan

3 Context - Legislation and policy

3.1 The European Directive on Environmental Noise

The European Parliament and Council Directive for Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise 2002/49/EC , more commonly referred to as the Environmental Noise Directive ( END), was published in July 2002 and adopted in 2004. END required Member States to bring about measures " to define a common approach intended to avoid, prevent or reduce on a prioritised basis the harmful effects, including annoyance, due to exposure to environmental noise". END objectives ^[13] are:

• To determine the noise exposure of the population through noise mapping.
• To make information available on environmental noise to the public.
• To establish Action Plans, based on the mapping results, to reduce noise levels where necessary, and to preserve environmental noise quality where it is good.

END does not set limit values, nor does it prescribe Action Plans measures; these remain at the discretion of the competent authority.

3.2 Legal Context in Scotland

The END was transposed into the Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006; END definitions are evident in the Scottish regulations. A useful summary of the regulatory framework is available in the Scottish Governments Draft Guidance on Noise Action Planning ^[14] . This guidance highlights a number of legal issues with respect to transportation:

• Noise from lawful use of existing roads ^[15] and railways cannot be construed as noise nuisance, under the terms of the Environmental Protection Act.
• If noise from a new or "altered" road exceeds a certain trigger level ^[16] , and meets other qualifying criteria, the Noise Insulation (Scotland) Regulations 1975 ( NISR) states that insulation work can be carried out, or a grant offered in respect of the insulation work. Compensation for depreciation in land value caused by public works may be due under the Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1973.
• The railway equivalent of the NISR is the Noise Insulation (Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems) Regulations 1996. Whilst the 1996 Regulations do not apply to Scotland, they have been adopted on certain new rail corridor projects in Scotland on a case by case basis.