WIREDGOV

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) yesterday published draft noise action plans for 23 English large urban areas, major roads and major railways, for consultation.

This follows an informal consultation on earlier versions of draft template noise action plans. This gave the public and local authorities the opportunity to comment on the proposed way forward and what information should be included in noise action plans.

Defra will be consulting on:

• the template noise action plan for the 23 agglomerations (an agglomeration is an urban area with a population in excess of 250,000 inhabitants);
• the draft noise action plan for major roads outside agglomerations (a major road is a road with more than 6 million vehicle journeys a year); and
• the draft noise action plan for major railways outside agglomerations (a major railway is one that has more than 60,000 rail journeys a year).

The UK is required to produce noise action plans in order to fulfil its obligations under the Environmental Noise Directive.

The draft noise action plans, associated data and the consultation document can be found at:
www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/noise-action-plan/index.htm

The public consultation will last for 16 weeks, ending on 4 November 2009.

Public enquiries: 08459 335577
News releases available on our website:
www.defra.gov.uk
Defra's aim is sustainable development