2010 could be an important year for noise in Europe.The European Commission will be making its comments on the Noise Action Plans. The European Commission is expected to start the process of revising its two Noise Directives – one on Airport Noise – Directive 2002/30/EC; and one on all aspects of Noise – Directive 2002/49/EC

UECNA UPDATE  6 december 2009 14:34:41 GMT+01:00

Dear All,

Two things:  first of all, some ideas about a campaign against night flights; below that, some shorts notes I made of a Noise Seminar, organised by the European Environmental Bureau, which I attended recently.

John Stewart

Night Flights Campaign

There was a lot of interest at our conference in a campaign to ban or reduce night flights at airports across Europe.  At Heathrow we will be launching a campaign early in 2010 to call for a ban or reduction on night flights at Heathrow.  We think this is a good time as the European Union is beginning to consider revising its Noise Directives.  Would you be interested in taking part in a Europe-wide Campaign?  We could campaign at our own airports but we could also plan Europe-wide activities, such as a Europe-wide petition or photo-opportunities or demonstrations on the same day throughout Europe.  Let me know what you think.

European Environmental Bureau (EEB) Seminar

It was held in Brussels about two weeks ago.  It covered all aspects of noise but, in these notes, I have just covered aircraft noise.  The full details of the presentations should be on the EEB website shortly – www.eeb.org 

1.  2010 could be an important year for noise

· 2010 could be an important year for noise in Europe.

· The European Commission will be making its comments on the Noise Action Plans.

· The European Commission is expected to start the process of revising its two Noise Directives – one on Airport Noise – Directive 2002/30/EC; and one on all aspects of Noise – Directive 2002/49/EC.

· Belgium, which takes over the Presidency of the EU for 6 months in July 2010, is considering making noise one of its keys issues. 

· The European Environmental Bureau may hold a major conference on Noise and Health.

· Inter-Noise, the international conference on noise, is being held in Lisbon in June.  As part of the conference, there will be a special section aimed at campaigners.

Congress

will be held in Lisbon, Portugal 2010 , June 13 - 16. INTER - NOISE 2011 will be held in Osaka, Japan 2011, September 4 - 7. Past INTER - NOISE LIST ...

 [More results from www.i-ince.org]

2.  The Noise Maps and Noise Action Plans

Most European countries are disappointed about the noise action plans that governments have been required to produce by the European Commission. 

The European Commission commissioned the Czech organisation called Justice and the Environment to study the noise action plans in 5 former Eastern European countries plus Austria.

· A failure to meet the deadlines to submit them to the EU

· Very little involvement of the public in the consultation

· Low quality action plans produced – in particular, very little new in them: “The anti-noise measures are too general and in most cases merely copy previous plans and strategies, especially as regards the development of transport infrastructure.”

·  No link with national legislation, particularly planning legislation.

The report found that some of this was in part down to poor guidance by the EU.  In particular, it recommends that the EU should set binding noise limits.

The report is on www.justiceandenvironment.org