6. Planning indications
 

 

6.1        Noise abatement plans

When new roads, railway lines, building areas or industrial companies are planned or constructed, only sound immissions from the new building project or the noise impacting on the building area are determined and assessed and, if necessary, reduced by noise abatement measures. Other existing sound sources remain unconsidered.

This is why there had been continuous requests to consider the noise impact with regard to the combined effect of all existing noise sources and to create an instrument which allows for taking measures against this noise impact. This was accomplished in 1990 with the revision of the Federal Immission Control Act. § 47a was introduced, which binds the municipalities to draw up noise abatement plans for residential areas and other areas requiring protection (schools, hospitals, nursing homes and rest homes, if necessary also recreational areas) which have a high noise exposure. Noise abatement plans allow for coordinated steps against different noise sources.

Noise abatement plans and noise immission plans (noise maps) also represent an important assessment foundation for urban land-use planning and transport route planning. Noise immission plans are an objective representation of the noise pollution and make noise "visible". They clearly show areas with a high noise exposure, which require noise abatement measures, and those areas which have been only slightly noisy so far and therefore require protection.

The EU Directive on Environmental Noise (Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise) attaches greater importance to noise abatement planning. The most important difference between the EU directive and the previous § 47a of the Federal Immission Control Act is the deadlines determining by when noise maps and action plans shall be set up. The deadline for agglomerations with more than 250,000 inhabitants is 30 June 2007 for noise maps and 18 July 2008 for action plans. The plans are to be updated every five years. The directive also stipulates that the public must be adequately involved. The EU Directive was transposed into national law by the "Act to implement the EC Directive on the assessment and management of environmental noise" (Gesetz zur Umsetzung der EG-Richtlinie über die Bewertung und Bekämpfung von Umgebungslärm) on 24 June 2005. The Federal Immission Control Act was amended by adding Part VI (Noise abatement planning §§ 47a to 47f).

Environmental noise is defined as "unwanted or harmful outdoor sound created by human activities, including noise emitted by means of transport, road traffic (see fig. 6/1a), rail traffic (fig. 6/1b), air traffic, and from sites of industrial activity (fig. 6/1c)". Noise from sports and leisure facilities (fig. 6/1d) is not considered in this act. It makes sense, however, to include these sources in the deliberations.

The act sets deadlines for the drawing up of noise maps and the resulting noise abatement plans (or "action plans", as they are called in the directive) for the management of the major sound sources. But this obligation only refers to agglomerations and the various major traffic routes (see table 6/1). The expressions "agglomeration" and "major traffic routes" are defined in § 47b.

 Area under investigation
 

 Noise maps by
 

 Noise abatement plans by
 

 Agglomerations
 > 250,000 inhabitants

30 June 2007

18 July 2008

 Major roads
 > 6 million vehicles/year

 Major railways
 > 60,000 trains/year

 Major airports
 > 50,000 movements/year

 Agglomerations
 > 100,000 inhabitants

30 June 2012

18 July 2013

 Major roads
 > 3 million vehicles/year

 Major railways
 > 30,000 trains/year

Table 6/1: Deadlines for the drawing up of noise maps and noise abatement plans
 

The drawing up of noise maps and action plans largely resembles the drawing up of noise abatement plans pursuant to § 47a of the Federal Immission Control Act. But the directive introduces new noise indices. Characteristic noise indicators are Lden as an indicator for overall annoyance and Lnight as an indicator for sleep disturbances. Lnight is the average sound pressure level during the night, Lden that of the 24 hours of a whole day with an addition of 5 decibels for the four evening hours and 10 decibels for the eight night hours.

The aim of the directive is not only to prevent and reduce environmental noise where necessary but also to preserve environmental noise quality where it is good. The directive points out the importance of the participation of the public. § 47d (3) says: "The public shall be consulted about proposals for noise action plans. It shall be given early and effective opportunities to participate in the preparation and review of the noise action plans. The results of that participation shall be taken into account. The public shall be informed on the decisions taken. Reasonable time-frames shall be provided allowing sufficient time for each stage of public participation."

According to § 47c, noise maps and action plans "shall be reviewed, and revised if necessary, at least every five years after the date of their preparation".

§ 47e determines "the municipalities or the authorities competent in accordance with Land law, unless otherwise provided for below" as responsible for noise abatement planning.

The EU Environmental Noise Directive defines minimum requirements for noise maps according to § 47c and noise abatement plans according to § 47d.

An ordinance on the drawing up of noise maps (34th Federal Immission Control Ordinance on Noise Mapping, in German) has been available since March 2006.
 

Substantial minimum requirements for the preparation of noise maps

1. A strategic noise map is the presentation of data on one of the following aspects:

  • an existing, previous or predicted noise situation in terms of a noise indicator
  • the exceeding of a limit value
  • the estimated number of dwellings, schools and hospitals in a certain area that are exposed to specific values of a noise indicator
  • the estimated number of people located in an area exposed to noise

2. Strategic noise maps may be presented to the public as:

  • graphical plots
  • anumerical data in tables
  • numerical data in electronic form

3. Strategic noise maps for agglomerations shall put a special emphasis on the noise emitted by the
    following sources:

  • road traffic
  • rail traffic
  • airports
  • industrial activity sites, including ports

4. Strategic noise maps will be used for the following purposes:

  • for the preparation of the data
  • aas a source of information for the citizens
  • as a basis for action plans

Each of those applications requires a different type of strategic noise map, in accordance with the deliberations in the EU directive.

5. For the purposes of informing the citizens and the development of action plans, additional and
    more detailed information must be given, such as:

  • a graphical presentation
  • maps disclosing the exceeding of a limit value
  • difference maps in which the existing situation is compared with various possible future situations
  • maps showing the value of a noise indicator at a height other than 4 m where appropriate

6. Strategic noise maps for local or national application must be created for an assessment height of
   4 m and with a scale for Lden and Lnight in steps of 5 dB.

7. Separate strategic noise maps must be created for road-traffic noise, rail-traffic noise, aircraft
    noise and industrial noise in agglomerations. Maps for other sources may be added.
 

Minimum requirements for noise abatement plans:

1.  Action plans must at least include the following indications and elements:

  • a description of the agglomeration, the major roads, the major railways or major airports and other noise sources taken into account
  • the authority responsible
  • the legal context
  • any limit values in place
  • a summary of the results of the noise maps
  • ean evaluation of the estimated number of people exposed to noise
  • an identification of problems and situations that need to be improved
  • a record of the public consultations
  • any noise reduction measures already in force and any projects in preparation
  • actions which the competent authorities intend to take during the next five years
  • including any measures to preserve quiet areas
  • the long-term strategy
  • financial information (if available): budgets, cost-effectiveness assessment, cost-benefit assessment
  • cost-benefit analysis,
  • provisions envisaged for evaluating the implementation and the results of the action plan

2. The actions which the competent authorities intend to take in the fields within their competence
    may for example include:

  • traffic planning
  • land-use planning
  • technical measures at noise sources
  • selection of quieter sources
  • reduction of sound transmission
  • regulatory or economic measures or incentives

3. Each action plan should contain estimates in terms of the reduction of the number of people
   affected (annoyed, sleep disturbed or other).

Figures 6/1-LMP-1, 6/1-LMP-2 and 6/1-LMP-3 show planning examples.  
 

As noise abatement planning includes very complex relations, ICT support is indispensable.

A major basis for the drawing up of noise abatement plans and for planning purposes are noise maps and primarily the presentation of traffic noise. The presentation of the noise pollution in municipalities and towns in the form of noise maps is advantageous for planning purposes. The plans can be based on both measurements and calculations.

While noise emissions (e.g. from roads) can be disclosed in a relatively easy way, it is much more difficult to draw up a noise immission plan for the whole territory of an area as sound propagation in sometimes complex topographic conditions must be calculated and other noise sources considered.

DIN 45682 (Sound immission maps) sets minimum requirements for the quality of input data and calculation models for the areal presentation of noise immission plans.

Popular calculation models are e.g. LIMA (available in English, German, Italian and French), CadnaA (available in English and German), SoundPLAN (available in English and German) and IMMI (available in German).
 

These requirements will place significant additional duties in the field of noise protection on the municipalities. What can be expected in future is a closer connection between the two fields of immission control and urban land-use planning than so far. This will be especially perceptible in the field of traffic planning.
 

For further and more detailed information on noise abatement planning in Stuttgart, please visit:

http://www.stadtklima-stuttgart.de/index.php?laerm_laermminderungsplan_einleitung
 

 

Fig. 6/1: Flow chart of a abatement plan
 
Download Fig. 6/1 as Pdf-file
 

Fig. 6/1a: Noise pollution from busy roads
 

Fig. 6/1b: Noise pollution from railway
 

Fig. 6/1c: Noise pollution from installations subject to licensing (e.g. car wreckers)
 

Fig. 6/1d: Noise pollution from highly frequented sports and leisure facilities (e.g. sports field)
 

Fig. 6/1-LMP-1: Noise abatement plan for Stuttgart-Vaihingen, total measures
 

Fig. 6/1-LMP-2: Noise immission plan for Stuttgart-Vaihingen, sum of all emitters, day
 

Fig. 6/1-LMP-3: Conflict plan for Stuttgart-Vaihingen, sum of all emitters, day
           
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