Proposed Amendment to The Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006
This consultation seeks views on amending the Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006 to change the timing cycles for all mapping and action plan requirements from five years to ten years.
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58 days to respond
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6. Consultation – current process
For the first time, the Round 4 strategic noise maps have been produced to cover the entirety of road and rail networks across Scotland (using 2021 data). These maps provide estimates of population exposure to environmental noise throughout Scotland, including the five major agglomerations: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Falkirk, and Glasgow. Following each round of strategic noise mapping, the resulting population exposure statistics inform the identification of candidate Noise Management Areas. These areas are supported by the noise action plans for road and rail, and urban agglomerations, outlining the actions to be implemented.
The five-year timescale results in a limited window for implementing the noise action plans before the next strategic mapping cycle begins. The process of modelling and publishing the noise maps has taken over three years due to the adoption of a new methodology. Additionally with the number of candidate Noise Management Areas to validate this can result in the next noise mapping data exercise starting before actions within the current action plans have been fully implemented.