Of the 460 questionnaires sent out, 335 were returned. This number of responses, equivalent to 73%, was greater than anticipated and is considered to be sufficiently high for some simple analysis of the responses to give reasonably reliable results.
It is assumed that the returned questionnaires are a representative sample of all local authorities (ie those that did not reply did not fail to do so because of any aspect of their own noise climate assessment activities). Some County Councils and Unitary Authorities contacted us expressing concern that noise climate assessment is handled by their district authorities. They were encouraged to reply regardless and explained that this was recognised at the inception of the screening process, but an all encompassing survey was being undertaken in order to help ensure that any particularly interesting/ innovative activities were identified. Hence the analysis of the numbers of replies to the various questions may be slightly skewed by an element of double counting. However, the numbers of replies from County Councils (13) and Unitary Authorities (46) are relatively small compared to the total number of replies from Metropolitan (31), London Borough (24), and District/Borough Councils (221).
The questionnaire was a simple one page document (included in Annex C).
Figure 4.1a shows the percentage of Local Authorities (by type) that consider each of the different sources of noise as a issue in their area.
Figure 4.1b shows the percentage of Local Authorities that perform the following particular activities that relate to noise climate assessment. (The relevant questionnaire question number is indicated in parenthesis in each case).
- Measure ? - (4) whether the local authority carry out regular or periodic noise monitoring or prediction at any locations;
- Equipment ? - (5) whether the local authority owns, or makes use of, any noise monitoring equipment;
- Software ? - (5) whether the local authority owns, or makes use of, any noise prediction software;
- Collate ? - (10) whether the local authority, in their opinion, collate the data they gather in a useful, re-usable form; and
- AQ Monitoring ? - (12) whether the local authority collects or maps any form of air quality or other pollution monitoring.
Figure 4.1a gives an indication of the spread of noise sources that local authorities deal with. It is not considered valid to analyse these results in detail, but it is clear that most authorities are concerned with a whole range of noise sources. Entertainment noise is perhaps surprisingly prevalent, but this may be due to uncertainty in what sources come under this category. Whilst domestic noise is the most abundant source as expected, another interesting result is that over a third of authorities consider aircraft noise an issue in their area.
Figure 4.1b gives an indication of the noise climate assessment resources available across authorities. 30% of authorities (including 58% of London Boroughs) appear to do some form of regular monitoring. Nearly all have suitable equipment but only 37 of the authorities who replied have predictive software, and of these the highest proportion are in Country Councils, presumably as a result of the need to assess major road traffic noise insulation schemes. Nearly all authorities carry out regular monitoring of air or other environmental pollutants. Only 11% of all authorities felt that they collated noise data in a re-usable form.
The survey also revealed that there are at least 45 Noise Abatement Zones (present in about 9% of authorities) , but it is unclear if all are actively used or pending de-commissioning.
4.2 Investigation of Long Listed Local Authorities
Out of all the returned questionnaires, only those local authorities who appeared to collate noise data in a useful, re-usable way proceeded through to the long-list for further consideration in the selection process.
The councils on the long-list were investigated further by means of telephone interviews. Details of the method of collation, the method of storage and the uses to which the data is put were pursued. The findings of this survey are set out in Table 4.1a below.
Table. 1a Local Authority Long List
Name
Type of Authority
Notes
Dorset
County
Most active County, though they do not appear to collate.
Ealing
London Borough
Conducting a lot of monitoring, and have established a baseline noise survey for the Borough.
Sutton
London Borough
Noise map based on square km grids using officer's downtime in the evening periods.
Bristol
Unitary
Intention to establish a 32 ward noise contour map when funds become available.
Middlesborough
Unitary
Roadside database.
Birmingham
MBC
Recommendation from past knowledge.
Bury
MBC
Historical noise data on PC via a download programme. Data stored under property address and there is no prospect of reporting the data on a more formal basis.
Kirklees
MBC
Noise levels kept on paper, filed by address/location. However, the commercial unit associated with Kirklees, is nearing the end of the ISIS research programme looking at integrating pollution information.
Newcastle upon Tyne
MBC
Noise levels held in a spreadsheet cross-referenced to a paper map.
City of Salford
MBC
Monitoring only in response to applications. Would like to implement some form of mapping system, but the funds are not currently available.
Trafford
MBC
Modem link with airport.
Wigan
MBC
A Landrover is used as a mobile noise monitor and is left out for long periods of time. The long-term monitoring is stored on a database (DataEase). Currently evaluating a new system (mapping a possibility) in the meantime all data is stored on paper.
Braintree
District
Noise map based on square km grids has been instigated. The noise levels are kept in a XS database and a macro is used to colour in squares according to level.
Congleton
Borough
Borough-wide noise monitoring has recently ceased. The data is stored on paper and cross-referenced to a paper map. LAeqs and LA90s. The monitoring will begin again once the new staff have settled in. The Borough strategy budgets for 100 sites to be visited per year.
East Cambridgeshire
District
Measurements only made of areas marked out as future employment or business-use zones. 2.5 years of data, all stored on paper.
Exeter City
Borough
City noise survey every 5 years (since 1986), concentrates exclusively on main roads in and out of the city. Data is stored on paper, but may be on PC as a result of downloading procedures.
Gillingham
Borough
Monitoring in response to complaints, developments and applications, very little regular monitoring is carried out. About to amalgamate with Rochester-upon-Medway. All data stored on file.
North Norfolk
District
Monitoring started last April but has now ceased due to staff shortages. Measurements still made when investigating complaints. Database of results on an Excel spreadsheet.
Norwich City
Borough
Continuous monitoring of environmental noise across the district. Historic data used a CEL 162/262 so all data was hard copy. Now use a B&K system and data is stored as soft and hard copy.
Plymouth City
Borough
They have a mobile unit for air quality that they have recently attached a sound level meter to, but since then the air quality kit has been in for repair more often than out in the field. Data is stored on paper.
Portsmouth City
Borough
Monitoring as a result of applications etc. Data on PC, but not extensively used. Noise contours may be looked at in the future.
Preston
Borough
10 year old noise map based on square km grids. Didn't feel dedicated noise surveys were worthwhile use of council's time.
Rugby
Borough
24 hour noise measurements in a register. Measurements mainly reactive.
Teinbridge
District
Intention to start a noise mapping programme.
Tewkesbury
District
Data stored under location, retrievable through B&K download system. Contouring is the eventual aim.
Torbay
Borough
Monitoring as a result of both a dedicated baseline level programme and in response to applications etc. A paper map of Torbay is used as a reference. Data stored using B&K software. They will become an Unitary Authority in 1998 and there is an intention to have a corporate database.
Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead
Borough
Aircraft noise contours were plotted by a man who has since died and no-one has replaced him. They are keen to be involved in any discussions that may occur.
From this information the short-list was developed based on the following main criteria:
- the amount of monitoring data they generate, or have generated in the past;
- whether they carry our noise monitoring pro-actively in additional to responding to planning applications, complaints etc;
- if they have developed a data-handling system; and
- whether they are interested in environmental noise exposure and keen to assist in the study.
In addition, the selection tried to cover a range of authorities, both geographically and in terms of the type of area they cover - rural, urban, railways present, airport present, industrial areas etc.
The following local authorities were short-listed:
- Birmingham City Council;
- Braintree District Council ;
- London Borough of Croydon;
- Congleton Borough Council;
- London Borough of Ealing; and
- Kirklees Borough Council.
In addition Rugby and Exeter District Councils were kept as reserve selections, but in the event were not required.
It should be noted that this group of local authorities is not a representative sample of the UK as a whole. Rather, it represents those most active in noise climate assessment according to the selection criteria given above. The following section therefore describes the highlights of local authority noise climate assessment activities, not the norm.
4.3 Local Authority Interviews
Each authority was visited to interview the relevant person/people. Interviews generally took about two hours and followed a pre-agreed agenda. The results showed some similarities which allows a briefer reporting format to be used than for the European reviews where practices varied dramatically. A summary matrix is used to summarise the findings, followed by a discussion with discussion on particular aspects of the findings following. An overview of the areas covered by each authority is provided below.
4.3.2 Description of Each Local Authority Area
Birmingham City Council
Birmingham is the UK's second largest city with about 751,000,000 inhabitants. Consequently, all noise sources are present, including a major airport and several large industrial areas. Environmental protection responsibility in the city is divided between 20 wards which call upon specialist centralised units as required.
Braintree District Council
Braintree is a mainly rural district but includes three main urban conurbations: Braintree, Witham, and Halstead. The district has a total area of 236 square miles and a population of 123,500.
London Borough of Croydon
The Borough covers an area comprising mainly high density residential uses in the north and lower density residential/commuter areas in the south. The noise environment is dominated by road traffic and the major south coast railway corridor crosses the Borough. Construction of a new tram system called Tramlink is due to begin in September.
Congleton Borough Council
Congleton is predominantly a rural borough but includes five small towns. The M6 motorway dominates the noise environment in the rural western areas of the Borough.
London Borough of Ealing
Ealing is an urban Borough of West London comprising a range of land-uses and commuter facilities. It is about 10 km east of London's Heathrow Airport and .is overflown by aircraft taking off on easterly winds. The A40, Uxbridge Road, Hayes Byepass, North Circular Road, Paddington mainline to the West Country and the North London line are all major transport routes.
Kirklees Metropolitan Council
Kirklees covers the urban areas of Dewsbury and of Huddersfield in West Yorkshirenear Leeds. It has a population of 386266,000 inhabitants.
4.3.3 Summary of Noise Climate Assessment Activities
Table 4.3 summarises the information gathered by visiting each local authority under 10 features of their noise climate assessment activities. The following sections explain the contents of the table and expand on this summary by giving details of particular features of the work carried out by individual authorities.
4.3.4 Resources For Noise Assessment
Table 4.3 gives an estimate of the number of staff involved in investigating noise complaints. It includes Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) who spend a proportion of their time on noise issues (summed accordingly) and full time noise specialists in noise units and specialist support teams.
Birmingham has a specialist Acoustics Section of 5.5 staff within the Environmental Protection Unit. Four are Members of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA). Routine noise complaints are dealt with by EHOs covering each of the 20 wards.
Braintree has five staff who spend about 50% of their time investigating noise problems. The total budget for the group is approximately £300,000 pa including staff costs. The Environmental Protection Team, along with the Food, Housing and Cleansing teams, fall under the Environmental Services Committee. All except one of the noise staff are IOA qualified.
Croydon has a 24-hour noise team comprising five technicians and one part-time EHO. This team is part of the Public Health Team. There is a specialist pollution team of four people that deals with strategic and planning issues, and currently spends about 25 % of its resource on noise matters because of the increased workload due to the Tramlink project.
Ealing has 8 EHOs and a technician in its pollution control team who spend about 60% of their time dealing with noise related issues, covering all aspects of domestic and commercial noise sources for both proactive and reactive work. Total pollution control team staff are 1 manager, 9 EHOs and 2 technicians. Noise budget equivalent is £142,000 (plus on costs) plus £60,000 for out of hours work. The Pollution Control group lies within the Health Division of the Council.
Kirklees has an environmental protection team of about 20. Staff in that team spend about 50% of their time investigating noise problems. However, it was the ISIS project team that we visited. This team was formed from a small Environmental Unit that reports directly to the Council's Chief Executive. The Environmental Policy Unit also deals with other initiatives, such as Local Authority 21 (LA21) and Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).
4.3.5 Re-active Data Collection
We have made a distinction between re-active and pro-active noise data that local authorities generate. Pro-active data are generated by their own initiatives to better their understanding of the noise climate in their region whereas re-active data are generated in response to routine demands. Re-active data are most commonly generated as a result of the authority responding to a complaint from the public, or to investigate a planning application (either for a potentially noisy development or a noise-sensitive development such as housing). Not all complaints relating to noise result in measurements. It is not considered appropriate to give details of complaints received in this section, but where possible an estimate of the number of measurements generated is supplied. It should be noted that many of these measurements are of domestic noise and therefore of little value to mapping the external noise climate.
Birmingham generates a large volume of measured noise climate data as indicated in Table 4.3. The noise section responds particularly thoroughly to planning applications with potential noise conflicts by logging noise levels on the site for several days (usually 5 days).
In Braintree only a small proportion of the complaints investigated each year result in noise measurements. However, when an appropriate measurement is made the results are used on the noise map.
Croydon's pubic health team investigates about 4,000 noise complaints per year, but it is unclear how many result in re-usable noise measurements.
Ealing's view is that probably only the 50 or so surveys generated per annum due to planning applications are in a form that could be used for another purpose.
4.3.6 Pro-active Data Collection
Some local authorities have instigated particular noise monitoring studies in order to improve their understanding of the local noise environment in their area. These initiatives are not standard requirements of local authority activities but have come about for a variety of reasons as discussed below.
There are three relevant projects in Birmingham:
- the West Midlands Noise Mapping Survey - about 15 years ago;
- a one-off survey of 26 sites in early 1980s, repeated in 1994; and
- the Annual Noise Trends Survey.
The West Midlands Noise Mapping Survey was similar to the London Noise Survey of the 1960s and did not produce any particularly valuable information.
The repeat of the 1980s one-off survey in 1994 showed two main conclusions. Firstly, that whilst daytime traffic noise levels have not increased significantly, night-time levels have increased by about 2 dB due to increased traffic volumes at night. Secondly, railway noise levels dropped by about 5 dB due to the effect of electrification of main lines in the area.
Birmingham's Annual Noise Trend Survey is probably the most thorough ongoing noise trending exercise in the country. It covers just five carefully selected locations; near a main railway line, near an arterial road, on a tower block next to Spaghetti Junction, in the city centre near New Street railway station, and near the airport. Two years ago a sixth location was added on top of the Hyatt Hotel in the city centre next to the Convention Centre and other entertainment and public noise sources. Monitoring is carried out over a one-month period each year at each location, except the sixth location where monitoring periods of a few weeks are fixed over holiday periods to improve the focus on entertainment and people noise sources.
Braintree have instigated a dedicated baseline noise survey map. In order to overcome the problems of staffing and cost, the Council have utilised the services of local students to carry out the monitoring during the summer break. This has proved to be a very cost-effective method and will be repeated this summer. The noise survey was begun last summer, and approximately 1/3 of the Borough was covered. It is hoped that the survey will be completed this year. The results are input into a spreadsheet which executes a macro to plot a colour related to the level on a map of the Borough. The map has a resolution of 1km, though it is hoped that eventually, in the urban areas, this will be refined. The current status of Braintree's noise map is shown in Figure 4.3a. No trending has been carried out on the numbers yet, though it is hoped eventually to do so.
Congleton started a Borough-wide noise survey of 50 sites some years ago, but work has stopped due to staffing problems. The Pollution Section is now back up to strength and plans to re-activate the survey.
Croydon have surveyed noise levels around their major parks as a result of proposals to host outdoor music events.
Ealing started a baseline noise survey last year and have approximately 60-70 sites across the Borough. The measurements were started as a result of an environmental audit carried out by ERM and the results are publicly available. No trending has yet been carried out on the numbers, and the exact nature of the trending will not be decided until the Pollution Team has taken on the duties of the Residential Team. Any slack time of the Party Patrol (night noise team) is utilised by taking measurements that can be used for the baseline noise survey.
Activity in Kirklees includes the ISIS project as discussed in Section 2.2.
4.3.7 Systems for Other Pollutants
During the interviews we tried to identify if there were systems in place for mapping of other environmental pollutants that could provide a basis for noise mapping, or could provide a resource that could be shared in any way. Map bases and IT resources are obvious examples, but staff resources, monitoring routines, and even secure locations for equipment installation may also offer savings for noise mapping exercises.
There is no formal integration of noise and other pollutants at Birmingham, Braintree, Croydon, Congleton or Ealing.
Braintree carry out air quality monitoring, and there is some interaction with the traffic group, though not regularly. GIS is available within the council, but the pollution group lack the necessary resources to gain access to it.
Ealing carries out a large amount of air quality monitoring, but again there is no formal interaction between the two teams. Ealing has two fully automatic air monitoring stations, as well as a number of other sites that are monitored regularly. They have no access to a GIS system.
4.3.8 Strategic Use of Noise Data
In this section we have tried to investigate the range of uses to which noise data is put. In the case of re-active data, the data is usually project specific, but in some cases a broader use is made of the knowledge that the relevant teams are building on noise climate.
In Birmingham noise is addressed in Local Agenda 21 (LA21) activities but traditionally the noise section have not been heavily involved in strategic environmental planning.
Braintree's Environmental Protection Services Team is beginning to have a bigger say in the development of Local Plans, which are now beginning to introduce the idea of sustainability. There is no formalised use of the noise data in this process, and the impression given is that the noise data is used to give an objective angle to knowledge already held by the individual officers.
Congleton has a different approach to LA21 to that taken by many authorities. LA21 is being developed on a community basis rather than by subject. Thus noise will be covered by the LA21 initiatives, but in a local context.
Croydon's LA 21 plans and Corporate Environmental Programme incorporate commitments to environmental noise. The council propose establishing quiet zones for some of their parks. For these zones a commitment will be made to preserve the existing peaceful noise climate. Croydon's Local Agenda 21 (which is generated by a mixed body of interested parties) sets the following ambitious noise targets:
- reduce annual noise complaints to 1985 levels by 2010. Reduce annual noise complaints to 1980 levels by 2045; and
- reduce noise levels at control sites from 1997 levels by 3 dB (18-hr LAeq) by 2010 and by 6dB (18-hr LAeq) by 2045.
In Ealing noise data is specifically requested for impact of proposed road and rail schemes and the likely effect on new residential and other noise sensitive developments from existing noise sources. The planners in the council will seek advice from the Pollution Control group in relation to local plans etc, though, like Braintree, it is the expertise of the officers that is sought and the data is simply used as confirmation for knowledge held by the officers from familiarity with the area.
4.3.9 Future Plans and other Comments
During the interviews we also asked if there were any future plans to change noise mapping activities and what noise climate assessment initiatives would the authority consider if more resources were available.
In Birmingham there is a feeling that people's tolerance of transport noise is reducing. The noise section will be trying to focus on transport noise more in the future. However, it is recognised that any traffic restrictions considered to improve the environment of the city centre would have to be carefully planned to discouraging use of the central area and endangering its future prosperity. Entertainment noise in the city centre is an increasing concern.
Braintree is looking at a formalised method of integrating all the pollution data it collects and devising a mapping technique to give an overview of the Borough. However, lack of resources means that this is unlikely to be put into practice in the near future.
Congleton will be reviewing their State of the Environment Report of 1995 which includes the initial results of the noise survey and various future actions including trending traffic noise levels. In response to the question of what could be investigated if more resources were available, Congleton suggested that more evaluation of the health effects of noise would be useful in empowering initiatives to control noise pollution.
Croydon's future plans include monitoring noise at a number of control stations to monitor progress against their bold commitment to reduce noise levels in the future. The Tramlink project will further raise the profile of noise across the region, and work will continue to establish and police quiet zones for park areas.
Future plans for Ealing are uncertain in view of the current review of domestic noise investigations and a fundamental review of all services.
The ISIS project team in Kirklees hope to extend the project to further its development in terms of accuracy and reliability, and to model noise (and the other sustainability indicators) over a wider area.
Published 1 June 1999
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