David Dodd, Environment Advisory Unit, DCCAE at EPA Noise Workshop on June 13th 2017

1. Noise Policy and END Review
EPA Noise Research Workshop
EPA, Dublin
13th
June 2017
David Dodd
Environment Advisory Unit
DCCAE

2. Presentation Outline
• Key Legislation
– EPA Act 1992
– Environmental Noise Directive (END)
– Road Traffic Act (1993 and 2002)
• END Review
Slide 2

3. Key Irish Legislation for Noise
• Control of Dogs Act, 1986 (section 25)
• The Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992
• Roads Act, 1993 and 2002
• Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (Noise)
Regulations, 1994 (S.I. No. 179 of 1994)
• Building regulations (Part E)
• Planning and Development Act, 2000 to 2006
• Environmental Noise Directive (END) - Environmental
Noise Regulations (S.I. 140 of 2006)
• ………
Slide 3

4. Key Irish Legislation for Noise
• The Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992,
identifies noise as a form of environmental
pollution and contains provisions for dealing with
noise
– “which is a nuisance, or would endanger human
health or damage property or harm the environment.”
• The sections of the EPA Act relevant to noise
pollution are: Sections 106, 107 and 108.
Slide 4

5. Section 106 – Regulations for Control of Noise
•This section gives the Minister for Environment…
the power to make regulations for the purpose of
preventing or limiting noise. This may include
imposing noise limits, either exceedance values or
emission values, controlling sources of noise and
the imposition of charges for noise pollution.
Slide 5

6. Section 107 – Power of Local Authority or Agency
to Prevent or Limit Noise
•This section gives powers to Local Authorities or
the Environmental Protection Agency to control
and limit noise from any premises, process or
work.
Slide 6

7. Section 108 – Noise as a Nuisance
•This section gives provision for local authorities,
the EPA or any individual to complain to the
District Court regarding noise nuisance causing
unreasonable annoyance. The Court may order the
offending person or body to take specific measures
to limit or prevent noise pollution.
Slide 7

8. Section 108 (continued)
• Implemented by S.I. No. 179/1994 -
Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992
(Noise) Regulations, 1994
• http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1994/si/179/m
Slide 8

9. Slide 9

10. Planning and Development Act, 2000 to 2006
• For certain developments specific noise
conditions may be attached to various forms of
planning approval. Such conditions may include:
– dB limits at specified locations at specified
times/dates;
– dB limits above background noise levels at specified
locations at specified times/dates;
– Prescribed hours of operation;
– Requirement for the implementation of a noise
management plan;
– Self-monitoring requirements.
Slide 10

11. Roads Act, 1993
Slide 11
Road traffic noise.
77.—(1) The Minister may, after consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency,
make regulations requiring road authorities or the Authority to carry out works or take such
other measures as are necessary to mitigate the effects of road traffic noise in respect of such
types of public road constructed or improved after the commencement of this section as are
specified in the regulations.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1993/act/14/section/77/enacted/e

12. Road Traffic Act, 2002
Slide 12
Protection of
environment.
13.—(1) The
Minister may,
for the purposes
of—
(a) the protection of the environment and the reduction or
elimination of damage to it caused by the use of
vehicles,
(b) the protection of—
(i) persons and animals from damage to health,
distress and discomfort, and
(ii) other property from damage,
caused by harmful emissions and excessive noise from
vehicles, and
(c) the reduction or elimination of such emissions and noise,
make such regulations as he or she considers appropriate in
relation to vehicles, emissions from, or noise of, vehicles
constituting environmental pollution (within the meaning of
the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992 ) and the use of
vehicles in public places.

13. Environmental Noise Directive (2002/49/EC)
• The aim of the Environmental Noise Directive
is;
– “to define a common approach intended to avoid,
prevent or reduce on a prioritised basis the
harmful effects, including annoyance, due to
exposure to environmental noise”
Slide 13

14. END (continued)
• END applies to Aircraft, road, rail and Industrial noise
sources above specified thresholds.
• The main requirements of END are for Noise Maps
and Noise Action Plans to be carried out by relevant
authorities every five years with the aim of
identifying and reducing the exposure of noise to the
population
Slide 14

15. Slide 15

16. The Evaluation of the
Environmental Noise Directive
Expert Group Meeting
28 February 2017
Bernhard Berger, Marco Paviotti
DG Environment, European Commission

17. The Directive
 Directive 2002/49/EC: achieve a common
European approach to avoid, prevent or reduce
the effects of exposure to environmental noise
harmful for health
 Actions: noise mapping + action planning in 5-year
cycles
 Excludes: limit values + prescribed measures

18. Methodology
 Interview Programme
 Online survey
 Validation workshop
 Desk research
 Case studies

19. Public Consultation
Type of respondent Number of replies % of total replies
As a single citizen 1008 70,5
As an association of citizens 121 8,5
Private company - non SME 17 1,2
Private company - SME 33 2,3
Public company 51 3,6
Academic/scientist 52 3,6
National/regional/local authority 89 6,2
Industrial or trade association 33 2,3
Consumer association 4 0,3
Other 21 1,5
Total 1429 100,0
Public consultation from 21 December
2015 to 28 March 2016

20. The evaluation questions
 Relevant
 Coherent
 Effective
 Efficient
 EU added value
Retrospective, with limited prospective elements

21. Findings Evaluation
Relevance
Objectives remain relevant, as
• noise remains a major
environmental health problem
• data needed to further develop
EU noise-at-source legislation

22. Findings Evaluation
Coherence
•largely internally coherent
•external coherence with other
relevant EU legislation
•Coherent also with national noise
control legislation

23. Effectiveness the objectives
1 To define a common approach intended to
avoid, prevent or reduce on a prioritised basis
the harmful effects, including annoyance, due
to exposure to environmental noise.
2 To provide a basis for developing Community
measures to reduce noise emitted by the
major sources, in particular road and rail
vehicles and infrastructure, aircraft, outdoor and
industrial equipment and mobile machinery.

24. Effectiveness
•Progress has been made (CNOSSOS)
but…
•..effects have not yet materialised
•…exposure data not yet been used by the EU
•…impact cannot be fully evaluated at the moment
(long-term effects)
Findings Evaluation

25. Assessment of progress towards the first objective of the
END: a common approach - Article 1(1)
Public Consultation

26. Findings Evaluation

27. •
Findings Evaluation
Member State Noise mapping cost in €
per capita rounded in R2
Action planning cost in €
per capita rounded in R2
Bulgaria 0.17 0.01
Croatia 0.13 0.03
Czech Republic 0.16 0.02
Finland 0.18 0.09
Germany 0.11 0.29
Latvia 0.09 0.04
Lithuania
0.28 0.07
Poland 0.07 no data
Portugal 0.15 0.05
Slovakia 0.56 no data
United Kingdom 0.05 0.01
Average 0.18 0.06
Median 0.15 0.03
Administrative costs for some Member State

28. Cost-benefit analysis
o all costs (implementing
measures + admin costs)
o Benefits: reduction
of impacts on human
health for 4 end-points
• (annoyance, sleep disturbance,
acute myocardial infarction
and hypertension)
Findings Evaluation

29. Findings Evaluation
Impact pathway

30. Methodology
18 test cases, but eliminating the agglomerations (incomplete data)
3 scenarios:
•Worse case
•Base case (most likely)
•Best case
Considering the variation of the value of disability weights, VOLYs or the
extent to which the change in the size of the population exposed to noise
can be attributed to the implementation of the END)
Assessment over a 25-year period (2002 to 2026) and discounted using
the 4% social discount
Findings Evaluation

31. 18 Case studies
Airports: Glasgow, Stuttgart, Athens, Vienna,
Frankfurt
Roads: Austria (2,500km) and Greece (75km)
Rails: Austria (2218 km) and Slovakia (506 km)
Aggl.: Augsburg, München, Nürnberg, Essen,
Düsseldorf, Malmö, Bukarest, Bratislava,
Helsinki
Findings Evaluation

32. • Aggregate assessment of total costs and benefits at the EU
scale under the base case (most likely) scenario (million €)
Findings Evaluation
Total costs
Total
benefits
Cost-benefit
Major airports 438 2 854 1:7
Major roads 667 24 248 1:36
Major rail 82 7 317 1:89
TOTAL 1 190 34 418 1:29
The Directive is very efficient

33. EU added value
• level playing field
• inform source
legislation
• not yet delivering
the EU added value that it could
provide
Findings Evaluation

34. What would happen if the END were repealed?
Public Consultation

35. Issues to be addressed
• Hidden objective
• Reporting timing
• Adjusting to new
regulatory
developments
• Noise not a priority
• Implementation provisions
• Clarification of definitions
Findings Evaluation

37. Next step
The Implementation report –
according to Article 11 – is planned
for April 2017 – in time for the
conference - and will contain the
action plan

38. Noise in Europe, Brussels – 24th April 2017
• 450 + attendees
• Keynotes - Commissioner Vella from DG ENV and
Commissioner Bulc from DG Move.
• High level address by DG Sante, the European
Environmental Agency and the WHO

39. Noise in Europe, Brussels – 24th April 2017
• Revised WHO Noise guidelines not ready yet.
Likely end of summer 2017
• Still up to 20% of MS have not submitted all
their Noise Maps for the first 2 rounds (2007
and 2012) and nearly 50 % have not
completed Noise Action Plans
• Numerous calls for EU wide Noise threshold
values
• ……
Slide 39