Noises off
In an effort to cut noise pollution in the European Union, the Commission recently published a proposal for a Directive on the assessment and management of environmental noise. The proposal introduces measures to understand and classify the problems caused by noise so that concrete measures to combat noise pollution can be made in the future. 'We want to ensure systematic monitoring of noise at local, national and EU levels,' said Margot Wallström, European Commissioner for the Environment. 'This should be based on a common approach and citizens should be informed. We need to create pressure and indeed oblige Member States to carry out action plans to reduce noise where it is considered unacceptable.' According to Commission figures, noise pollution from transport, industry and recreation bothers at least 25% of the EU's population, affecting increasingly more peoples' quality of life and health. The new proposal for a framework directive aims to provide a basis to change that trend by introducing EU-wide 'noise mapping' based on common methods, providing information to the public and by the development of action plans and strategies at various levels. Noise-mapping forms the central element of the proposal. Noise maps for urban agglomerations with more than 100,000 inhabitants and for areas near major roads, railways and airports will be published locally so that the public is informed. These will form the basis for local action plans to improve the situation. Using a summary of this data, the Commission will develop a data bank and publish overviews of the situation in the EU. This process will be repeated every five years to monitor the policy's effectiveness. In turn, the Commission intends to develop goals for noise reduction and strategies and measures to achieve them. 'The introduction of EU-wide noise mapping requires the introduction of harmonised noise indicators and common computation and measurement methods,' says the Commission. The proposal introduces two noise indicators: LDEN (covering noise levels during the day, evening and night) characterises noise in terms of annoyance; and LNIGHT relates to sleep disturbance. The Member States will now be invited to propose limit values for these two new indicators as, in accordance with a 1996 Green paper on future noise policy, the Commission cannot propose common limits for the indicators at this stage. The proposal deals with strategies and long-term approaches to reduce noise pollution in the domestic environment for the majority of the population. It does not, however, deal with individual cases, complaints and neighbourhood noise or noise in the working environment.