West Sussex in breach of noise regulations in Crawley

For many years now, health researchers have been highlighting the impact of road noise on people’s physical and mental health, with heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes listed amongst the many conditions linked to high levels of exposure.

Governments are aware of this and over time regulations have been introduced to try to reduce the or mitigate the impact of such noise pollution along roads. In 2006, the UK passed The Environmental Noise (England) Regulations, integrating the EU’s Environmental Noise Directive (END) (2002/49/EC) into English law, setting out measures such as the creation of ‘Noise Important Areas’ (NIAs). NIAs cover areas where the levels of noise are likely to impact upon health, representing around 1% of the UK’s population subject to the greatest road noise.

Crawley’s major roads increasingly fall within this category, with almost the full length of Crawley Avenue and the adjacent section of the M23 forming part NIAs along with smaller sections of other major routes.

NIAs aren’t simply intended to be a designation, they are supposed to highlight areas where the Highways Authority, in our case West Sussex County Council, will work to reduce road noise. Such measures can on the one hand include changes to the highway infrastructure, reducing the speed of traffic or smoothing its flow, or reducing its impact on properties through the use of acoustic fencing and double glazing.

Back when I was a county councillor, I raised the issue of Crawley’s NIAs with the Cabinet Member for Highways. Their response highlighted that while Worthing and Arun both had Noise Action Plans (NAPs) in place, Crawley would have to wait for resources to be made available, but that the soon to be released Highway Asset Management Plan would set out how the council would work to reduce noise.

That was in 2016, since then the resources for Crawley to have a NAP still haven’t been found and the Highway Asset Management Plan did not, in fact, outline how the council would approach road noise.

So here we are, with Noise Impact Areas regularly extending out along Crawley’s roads, the Conservative administration at West Sussex County Council continuing to ignore their legal duties with regard to UK noise regulations, and thousands of local families at risk of the health problems caused by road noise. We deserve better.