Examination of Witnesses (Questions 12760
- 12779)
12760. Mr Taylor: Let us start with base
line noise levels if we may. Lady Bright referred to various peak
noise levels and the noise monitoring that has been carried out
in the vicinity of the area of London we are concerned with here
is set out in table 7.1 in volume 2 of the noise technical report.[104]
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) Yes, it is.
There is a plan, I do not know whether we can have that on the
screen, which shows the location of the noise monitoring points
as well which might be helpful.
12761. Mr Taylor: We will come to the
plan after we look at the table first. Table 7.1 in volume 2.
Mr Thornely-Taylor can I take the copy that you have there in
front of you from you and we will put it on the overhead projector.
We need to focus on the top row, the site is WE01 93 Westbourne
Park Villas.
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) Yes. This is the terrace
of houses in Westbourne Park Villas that is very close to the
railway. There are two rows of houses as we have seen on previous
plans. WEO1 is very close indeed to the railway. Among that mass
of numbers, I will try and simplify it a little bit, we are looking
at the first line, the first five columns are giving us numbers
in terms of the index which I explained on Day 8—a long
time ago—called Leq, that is the energy average, the daytime
and night time periods. It is quite noisy there, the daytime Leq
is 74 to 75 and at night time, if you take the normal night time
period, it is 68 to 69 for noise insulation eligibility purposes.
There is a shorter night time period used which is why there is
a midnight to 0600 column, and the figure there is 66. If we then
move further across the page we get some additional information
about what went on during the survey. We can ignore the next three
columns. The interesting ones are towards the right, the wider
columns, which are headed—it is quite hard to see—LA
max F for fast. These are the highest values that occurred momentarily,
they need only have occurred for one-eighth of a second during
the whole of the measurement period concerned and the night time
measurement period is there, eight hours. Indeed it got up for
a moment to 100.8 during the night and 106.4 during the day. That
is by no means unique to Westbourne Park Villas and I do not think
I need trouble the Committee by looking at other pages for sites
along the Great Western Railway, but that is quite a common thing
to find. All sorts of things cause high LA max values in locations
where noise is made but the thing which is very obvious about
facades which immediately overlook the Great Western is the high
noise levels from high speed trains and high speed diesels.
12762. If we put up the plan, we can see the
measurement location and that might assist the Committee.[105]
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) The measurement
location is, as I mentioned earlier, the façade very close
indeed to the railway, WEO 1 there. I believe I am right in saying
the Brights live about there but I am sure they will correct me
if I am wrong.
12763. So when we see those very high peak measurements
which are indicated during the night time period, Lady Bright
said those were caused by the batching plant. What is your view
about that?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) A batching plant is certainly
a noise source and I am sure, having met Lady Bright on more than
one occasion and had it described to me, I am sure it is a significant
noise source, but one does notice, as I mentioned a moment ago,
further along this railway similar LA max levels remote from the
batching plant.
12764. Let us deal with the matter of the hoarding,
and if we can use the particular plan we have on the overhead
it is taken from the Noise Technical Report and indicates what
is proposed during construction. It is quite difficult to see
on the screen. What is your understanding about the position for
hoarding the worksite during the construction period?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) It is intended there will
be a 3.6 metre high hoarding starting there and running all the
way along to the eastern end of the worksite.
12765. Let us turn on and look at the operational
impact of Crossrail. Is that a matter you considered in relation
to the properties in Westbourne Park Villas?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) Yes, indeed, in the process
of preparing the environmental statement normal predictions of
railway noise were made. Because the Crossrail lines are on the
far side of the many operational lines of the existing railways,
the effect of adding Crossrail noise to the existing railway noise
environment is quite small. By day the increase is just a fraction
less than 1 dBA and by night it is just a fraction more than 1
dBA increase using the LA increase scale.
12766. What effect will that have on somebody
in the vicinity of the turnaround for Crossrail in terms of their
perception of the noise environment before and after Crossrail?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) It is too small an increase
to be classified as, and certainly not, a significant increase
and in pure noise terms it is a barely noticeable increase.
12767. Bearing in mind that answer, we have
had the suggestion that a curved wall should be provided as I
understand it along the length of Westbourne Park Villas curving
over the Great Western Railway in order to mitigate, I believe
it was, existing ambient noise rather than the noise associated
with Crossrail. What is your view of the necessity for that in
the light of the answer you have just given?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) The question related I
think to the existing noise climate and it is noisy, as we have
seen from the figures, and if it were a practical proposition
to do the variety of measures that Lady Bright and Sir Keith have
referred to for all the railway lines running out of Paddington
there may be some opportunity to reduce the total railway noise,
but doing something to Crossrail on its own could only reduce
noise by the very small amount I have mentioned that represents
the contribution of Crossrail to the total noise environment at
that location, even if it were practicable.
12768. Mention was made of the use of a particular
kind of rail manufactured by Corus, are you familiar with that
particular product?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) Yes, I am. The first thing
to be clear about is that noise from electric trains comes in
equal measure from the wheels and the rails, and going back again
to my generic presentation on Day 8, taking one of two equal noise
sources away only drops the noise level by 3, so however good
the rail was it would not be possible to reduce the train noise
by more than 3. Sitting here as a Crossrail witness and unable
to speak for Network Rail, we can only discuss doing that to Crossrail
track. The reduction again would be even less than that 3, it
could never be more than 1 or so which Crossrail will contribute
to the whole railway noise environment.
12769. Let us turn to deal with the batching
plant. You have heard mention of the proposal to bring forward
planning conditions to control the operation of the batching plant,
what can you say to the Committee about conditions that might
control the noise impact of the batching plant operation?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) It is proposed to include
a noise condition of the same kind that you would find on a planning
permission through the conventional planning process. I understood
from Mr King that the condition as he would expect to see it,
in fact to recommend to the Committee, is based on the normal
approach to limiting noise from a new industrial site which affects
residential areas. Numbers have been proposed for the condition
which would fully accord with the British Standard approach to
predicting the acceptability of noise from industry affecting
residential areas and accord with the advice in Planning Policy
Guidance PPG 24 on noise. Although it would mean a substantial
amount of noise reduction work to be included in the new batching
plant, there would have to be an acoustic enclosure for the conveyor
that is proposed, for the silos which are proposed, storing the
materials, in order to achieve the noise levels required, and
it would fully comply with normal modern practice in the control
of noise from new industrial development in residential areas.
12770. With those sort of conditions in place,
what sort of impact would there be on local residents if the operation
of the batching plant was reconfigured?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) Noise from the batching
plant would not have an impact on them at all.
12771. Those are all the questions I have.
Cross-examined by Lady Bright
12772. Lady Bright: Mr Thornely-Taylor,
the peaks are the peaks of noise you referred to from the environmental
statement. I know they are not being caused by Crossrail, but
they are very disturbing, would you not accept?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) I have no doubt in accepting
the railway noise along Westbourne Park Villas is currently disturbing.
12773. I quite understand why you are preserving
Crossrail's very, very, very narrow vision of this—it is
not our decibel, it is somebody else's decibel—but do you
not think having read the Ambient Noise Strategy which is specifically
for London and also specifically mentions Crossrail as an opportunity
to make positive adjustments to the noise climate in line with
that policy, do you not think some of these possibilities like
the barrier we are talking about are worth doing?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) The possibilities would
be worth doing for all the railways affecting Westbourne Park
Villas. If we were able to do things for all those lines—and
they would have to be quite dramatic things because the main noise
source is on top of the diesel locomotives pulling the high speed
trains and it is a considerable height above the railway—if
we could do something to all the railways coming out of Paddington
to reduce noise, there would be less noise for Westbourne Park
Villas.
12774. Are you familiar with legal actions being
prepared by Kensington & Chelsea under the Environmental Protection
Act to get London Underground to put in noise mitigation for some
of its tube lines? Do you think perhaps the Heathrow Express would
be a good candidate for that sort of treatment?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) There have been a number
of legal actions brought by local authorities, or sought to be
brought—they have not always succeeded because of course
underground railways operate under powers granted by an Act of
Parliament—but there have been in many parts of London pressure
put on London Underground to do things to reduce noise and where
there has been something which could be done, such as grinding
rails to reduce roughness, that has been done and it has been
beneficial. Where there is something particularly of that nature
and maintenance work can be done to reduce noise, then of course
it should be brought about by whatever pressure can be put on
the operators of the railway.
12775. I wonder if it is possible to suggest
or see if you could suggest a reliable mechanism, because we clearly
do not have one now, and you have worked for a representative
of all the railways in your time as a noise expert and the freight
companies and everybody else, can you think of a suitable mechanism
you could suggest to the Committee for ensuring that that maintenance
is undertaken?
12776. Sir Peter Soulsby: I think, Lady
Bright, that is going beyond the matter in front of the Committee,
which is of course the Crossrail Bill rather than the very real
problem you clearly have with noise from railways more generally.
12777. Lady Bright: Under the Ambient
Noise Strategy in the EU Directive we thought perhaps—
12778. Sir Peter Soulsby: I am afraid
not.
12779. Lady Bright: Just one final question
about the hoardings. I know this is going to sound silly because
you are going to specify, I am sure, it is a hoarding coated with
the right kind of material to absorb and reflect noise, but we
did have a problem in the street with advertising hoardings which
were wooden and actually reflected noise and increased it very
dramatically. Have you thought about the specifications for them?
(Mr Thornely-Taylor) The essential thing not
to lose sight of is that this will all be part of the process
which on previous occasions I have explained applies to all worksites,
which is to seek consent from Westminster which will cover everything
including the design of the hoarding. They can require in that
consent anything which is reasonably practicable to reduce noise
and if that includes putting some sort of face on the railway
side of the barrier, and they can demonstrate it is practicable
to do that, they have the power to require it through the procedures
of section 61 of the Control of Pollution Act.
104 Crossrail specialist technical reports- Assessment
of noise & vibration impacts, Table 7.1: Noise survey results
summary for 7-day monitoring sites-Central Route Section, billdocuments.crossrail.co.uk Back
105
Crossrail Ref: P101, Crossrail Noise Technical Report-Plan Noise
Monitoring/ Royal Oak Worksite West & East (SCN-20060627-015). Back
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