Leiden:
Noise abatement in the Netherlands as exemplified by Leiden
Leiden:
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| Country: | a) Western Europe | ,b) Netherlands |
| Language: | |
| Type: | Policy, 3 |
| Area: | City/Town, 100,000 - 1 mill. |
| Actors: | Local government, National government |
| Funding: | |
| Topics: | Noise |
| Objectives: | Improve living conditions |
| Reduce noise impacts | |
| Instruments: |
During the 1960s there was increasing awareness in the Netherlands of environmental pollution, of topics not only such as water and air but also noise.
The general public became concerned about their health. As far as noise is concerned in 1968 the Dutch government asked the national Health Council for advice on measures needed to protect people against noise. At the time noise was seen by the government as a public health matter. In 1972 the Health Council delivered its final report: the principal import of the advice concerned the importance of noise abatement directly at source and of limit values for noise levels. Another recommendation was to keep distance between noise sources and particular buildings such as dwellings, schools etc. As a final point the Council advised developing national noise legislation.
Based on this advice the noise abatement act was adopted by Parliament in 1979. The law was brought into operation gradually; this phasing was necessary because many directives based on the law still had to be elaborated; it also gave opportunity to implement the new legislation. Workshops, seminars and courses were organised in order to inform those involved in the new system, such as public servants and consultants.
During the 1960s there was increasing awareness in the Netherlands of environmental pollution, of topics not only such as water and air but also noise.
The general public became concerned about their health. As far as noise is concerned in 1968 the Dutch government asked the national Health Council for advice on measures needed to protect people against noise. At the time noise was seen by the government as a public health matter. In 1972 the Health Council delivered its final report: the principal import of the advice concerned the importance of noise abatement directly at source and of limit values for noise levels. Another recommendation was to keep distance between noise sources and particular buildings such as dwellings, schools etc. As a final point the Council advised developing national noise legislation.
Based on this advice the noise abatement act was adopted by Parliament in 1979. The law was brought into operation gradually; this phasing was necessary because many directives based on the law still had to be elaborated; it also gave opportunity to implement the new legislation. Workshops, seminars and courses were organised in order to inform those involved in the new system, such as public servants and consultants.
In accordance with Health Council advice, zoning became an important principle in this legislation in order to prevent noise nuisance. Noise zones became compulsory for noise sources such as
Within a zone special attention is required for noise-related issues, outside a zone noise is considered not to be a problem.
For industrial noise the minimum zone is described by an area exposed to 50 dB(A) located adjacent to an industrial site. For road traffic noise the zoning is also related to the 50 dB(A) noise level. However, the number of traffic lanes in a road forms the primary base for determining a zone for road traffic.
The zoning system brings about relations between the fields of noise abatement and spatial planning. Thus noise policy focuses on protecting noise sensitive buildings such as dwellings, schools and hospitals, plus designated quiet areas.
A range of limit values and guiding values is an important part of the noise legislation system. There are different values for sound sources and for situations, i.e. new or existing situations. All sound levels are equivalent levels determined over a 24 hour-period; different weighting is applied for day; evening; and night. Measuring or calculating methods for noise levels are set down in law.
The law gives priority to possible noise abatement measures:
When determining measures various possibilities have to be considered in accordance with these priorities.
For different noise sources, improvement programmes were determined at national level. Programmes applied to dwellings within zones with façades exposed to noise levels in excess of certain limit values. In the case of industrial noise, machinery and industrial buildings were the source in about 90 % of the improvements, i.e. quieter equipment and improved sound insulation were introduced to make the work environment less noisy. The costs of these measures had to be paid by industry itself. In other cases noise barriers or insulation for dwellings were needed; in a few exceptional cases dwellings had to be demolished. These measures were paid by national government. The improvement programme for industrial noise is scheduled to be completed in 2005/2010.
In the case of road traffic noise most costs are for noise barriers and to insulate dwellings. These measures are paid for by government. The programme is based on an inventory of all existing situations with noise levels exceeding a certain limit value. Thus most noise barriers have been built alongside motorways. This is rarely possible in towns and cities where soundproofing insulation is used. The number of noise barriers planned requires such an extraordinary amount of funding that, although the programme started in the early eighties, it will still take many years to complete. As for the insulation programme, here the situation is even worse. Based on existing criteria and the amount of money available annually it will be 2040 (?) before the programme achieves the set targets.
The main goals in national noise policy are:
From several national surveys about noise nuisance it has became obvious that in particular the goal regarding highly annoyed people will never be met. Although many measures have been taken, all the improvements and efforts regarding reduction of road traffic noise have been outweighed by
Currently national goals are being reconsidered, simultaneously there are movements for change in national noise legislation, with the intention to give greater decision making powers to local authorities, in particular
The intention is to create a more flexible system more effective than the current system which local authorities experienced as rather rigid. Such a change also fits with local authorities' demand to have greater responsibility for their own local environment and less regulation by national legislation.
Leiden is a typical city in the western part of the Netherlands. About 8% of the inhabitants are highly annoyed by noise, mostly generated by road traffic and railways. Industrial noise is not a problem. Thus local politicians were not very much interested in noise problems. The city fulfilled the national noise regulations and made use of the national improvement programmes.
Nevertheless, at administrative level there was an interest in developing a more active local noise policy. This was stimulated by initiatives at regional level based on an intention to update an old road traffic noise map for Leiden. Due to other circumstances this update became linked to developing a methodology in which all kind of noise sources could be taken into account, and a high level of detail could be achieved. Both aspects are essential for noise policy at local level. This methodology was integrated into a system called Urbis.
Since the Urbis system became available to the city of Leiden, work started on describing the existing situation. As a next step, different scenarios and consequences were computed and evaluated for all types of sources of noise and of air pollution. Urbis makes it possible to present results in several different ways, e.g.
Furthermore; results can be presented as maps, tables; at the level of the whole city or just for one specific urban district or quarter, depending on varying target groups such as policy makers, politicians, the public.
It looks as if Urbis will be an important instrument in developing local noise policy and abatement concepts, including air pollution as well. As it is relatively simple to compute and evaluate the results for certain choices and measures, the city of Leiden is working on determining possible quality levels (goals) for the urban environment in different parts of the city. In this way, the present situation regarding local needs and demands can be taken into account in a better way. Thus the Urbis system will have consequences for spatial development and for existing improvement programmes of social and physical aspects of planning and implementing measures. This will result in more efficient use of finances and innovative approaches to solutions, contributing to a better quality of life.
Aad Bezemer: Noise abatement in the Netherlands as exemplified by Leiden, in: European Academy of the Urban Environment: Raising awareness in candidate countries for future EU noise policy, Berlin2001
| Name | : | Bezemer |
| Firstname | : | Aad W. |
| Telefon | : | |
| Telefax | : | |
| Address | : | Ministry of Housing, Physical |
| Planning and Environment | ||
| (VROM) | ||
| IPC 635 | ||
| Mr. Aad W. Bezemer | ||
| P.O. Box 30945 | ||
| 2500 GX DEN HAAG | ||
| Netherlands |
Project was added at 02.12.2002
Project was changed at 02.12.2002