Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006 - proposed amendment: partial business and regulatory impact assessment

Introduction

Executive summary

The Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (‘the 2006 Regulations’) aim to identify areas with potentially higher noise levels and assist competent authorities in fulfilling their noise management responsibilities. This includes supporting actions that integrate noise considerations into decision-making processes and strategic planning.

A 10-week public consultation will be held to propose extending the requirement to produce strategic noise maps and associated noise action plans, from five years to ten years. The strategic noise maps and associated noise action plans apply to agglomerations, airports and transport (road and rail).

By requiring that noise maps and the associated noise action plans are produced on a regular basis – either every five or ten years - this ensures that there will be an ongoing cycle of engagement, monitoring and evaluation.

The consultation will seek comments on the proposal. Any impacts identified by stakeholders responding to this consultation will necessitate a review of the partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) to capture all noted costs and benefits.

This partial BRIA explored two options:

• Option 1: the status quo (namely the production of strategic noise maps and associated noise action plans on a five year basis), and
• Option 2: the proposal to extend the statutory requirement to ten years.

This BRIA has identified the aviation sector as being a primary sector affected by this proposal. Other key stakeholders are the local authorities (agglomerations) and transport operating companies (transport). It is also noted that this partial BRIA does not extend to the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland.

Implementation of this proposal could generate positive impacts for the airport operators, by decreasing administrative costs due to the reduced frequency in producing noise maps and action plans. Based on the consultation responses, consideration will be given as to whether this partial BRIA will be reviewed or a full BRIA will be required.