16 Feb 2024
Should more be done to protect households from the noise of the busy A405?
Locals living in the vicinity of the route have long since complained about the traffic noise on the A405 North Orbital Road between Park Street Roundabout and the Noke Hotel.
According to noise mapping data from DEFRA, the houses on either side of the A405 in Park Street are impacted by excess road traffic noise which is likely to cause a health problem.
Noise in this area is considerably higher than the limit of 65 dB(A) which produces the greatest risk of people experiencing a significant adverse impact to health.
We asked the county council what action is being taken to reduce this road traffic noise and comply with Noise Action Plan: Roads Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006 – 2 July 2019, Part B 6.2?
A spokesperson for HCC told the St Albans Times: “There are many factors that influence how much noise a road creates, but the main contributor is the noise of rolling tyres on the road surface, and this increases with the speed vehicles travel at, and with the number of vehicles using the road.
“Our Local Transport Plan commits us to minimising noise issues wherever possible, and we have identified speed management strategies and encouraging people to use alternatives to the car as the best ways to do this.”
The spokesperson added: “To help address the noise issue on the A405, we have a proposal in the South West Herts Growth and Transport Plan to improve the St Albans to Watford corridor by maximising the potential of the existing Abbey Line as a rail route by enhancing onward connections into St Albans City, and to transform the parallel A405 into a multi-modal road by diverting strategic traffic onto the motorway network, freeing up space for more local journeys by bus, bike or by car.”
But according to local campaigner Jon Breen, HCC needs to go further: “This is total nonsense, they need to set out their own noise action plan for roads under their management, acknowledging responsibility for all the noise important areas over 65dBA (identified by the DEFRA mappings) and setting out how they will mitigate them.
“It’s a legal requirement, it’s not optional, even if they don’t have a budget they need to plan to make money available, the regulation and guidance is very clear on this.
“National “Highways and Railtrack have a plan and use it on the A1M near Stevenage (with special fencing).
“There is also no mention of a noise action plan in the HCC Transport Plan, I have read it.”
