The Mayor's Ambient Noise Strategy - Greater London Authority

170 Mayor of London
The Mayor’s Ambient Noise Strategy
of development rights can help to locate more noise-sensitive
development in quieter areas.
4F.4 The London Plan seeks to accommodate the demands of a growing
London population and economy while directing it in ways which secure
environmental and social improvements. Development provides the
opportunity to use best modern technology, design and operation - not
just minimising noise generation and spread, and protecting users, but
wherever possible improving soundscapes around it. New development
presents opportunities progressively to improve soundscapes across the
city. Project proposers need to consider the mutual benefits of noise
control in four key respects, along with improving sound quality where
sound is integral to the use:
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Avoiding, containing or minimising noise generation from the project;
Protecting noise-sensitive project users from noise;
Minimising noise transfer between activities within the project,
particularly vital with more mixed-use development; and
Contributing where possible to wider improvement, which can feed
back into project benefits, e.g. designing roadside business units to
improve road noise screening to housing beyond the project, or
avoiding reflecting sound into quiet areas.
4F.5 Noise assessments carried out in accordance with Planning Policy
Guidance Note 24 will need to be used as pro-actively as possible, not
just to identify and secure noise protection for dwellings, but to influence
mix, layout and design. This includes, as far as possible, creation of
protected outdoor spaces within developments. In support of the
objectives of London Ambient Noise Strategy, the Mayor will, in relevant
strategic referrals 3 , seek specific evidence on the action to be taken to
address noise, detailing, for example, the noise issues considered, in terms
of sources, levels, methods and assumptions, and the noise mitigation
measures incorporated to achieve the appropriate level of protection. This
could in future take the form of a Noise Action Statement (see glossary).
Types of measures are referred to in paragraphs 13-19 of Planning Policy
Guidance Note 24, and paragraphs 4F.23-27 below. All PPGs, including
PPG24, are expected to be reviewed by 2005 (see Appendix A5). Issues
such as the contribution of urban form to noise reduction and the
application of Noise Action Statements, the latter not being at this stage
a specific requirement of the London Plan, will need to be addressed in its
first review. For many strategically important developments,
Environmental Impact Assessment will, in any event, apply. Where there is
potential for significant noise impact, noise assessments would be
expected to be included within the Environmental Statement. 4