Petitions
Friday 12 June 2009
OBSERVATIONS
Transport
Traffic Noise (M6)
The Petition of residents of the Borough of Stafford, and others,
Declares that noise from traffic on the M6 motorway in the section between junctions 13 and 14 is unacceptably high especially for residents who live near the motorway and that the carriageway of this section of the motorway is therefore in need of replacement.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Secretary of State for Transport to make early arrangements for a programme of works to refurbish the section of the M6 motorway between junctions 13 and 14 to include replacing the existing carriageway surface with a modern noise-reducing surface.
And the Petitioners remain, etc. —[Presented by Mr. David Kidney , Official Report, 19 May 2009; Vol. 492, c. 1473.]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Transport:
Current Government policy is to resurface motorways and trunk roads in accordance with normal maintenance needs, unless noise is exceptionally intrusive.
A list of those locations on the strategic roads network in England worst affected by noise was published in Hansard in November 1999. The list identified lengths of road where investigations into the mitigation of traffic noise would be handled by the Highways Agency as a priority, using a £5 million ring-fenced annual budget. The sites that met the necessary criteria are being treated and the work is due for completion by March 2011.
The M6 between Junctions 13 and 14 did not meet all of the necessary criteria. These were:
(i) the road must have been opened before June 1988;
(ii) the calculated roadside noise level must be greater than or equal to 80 decibels; and
(iii) the calculated noise level must exceed the design year prediction by 3 decibels or more.
The surface of the M6 is continually monitored to assess its condition and decide on when resurfacing will be necessary. At present, the surface between Junctions 13 and 14 has not deteriorated to the extent that intervention is necessary and the Highways Agency has no plans in the current forward programme for a resurfacing scheme. As with all new resurfacing schemes, a material with noise reducing properties will be used when the time comes for the existing surface to be replaced.
Recently, national policy on noise has changed and DEFRA are now tasked with producing noise maps and action plans for particularly noisy areas, including road corridors, in line with the EU Environmental Noise Directive, which was transposed into UK law under the Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006. Noise maps for England’s roads were published on 16 May 2008 and work to produce noise action plans for public consultation is now under way.
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