HC Deb 03 July 1963 vol 680 cc66-8W
Sir H. Legge-Bourke

asked the Parliamentary Secretary for Science if he will make a statement about the Report of the Committee appointed by the Minister for Science in April 1960, under the chairmanship of Sir Alan Wilson, to consider the problem of noise.

Mr. Denzil Freeth

This Report was published yesterday, when my noble Friend made the following statement in another placeReport on the Problem of Noise The Government are most grateful to Sir Alan Wilsonand his colleagues for their thorough and illuminating examination of the many aspects of this problem. The Government recognise that the prevention of noise is an important factor in the preservation of amenity in our environment, and welcome the Report as a major contribution to public understanding of the problem and of ways to mitigate it. The whole subject is clearly one of interest and concern to the Government, although much of the responsibility for mitigating the problem lies with local authorities, industry, members of the professions and the public. They have, therefore, already given preliminary study to the recommendations in the Report. The Report places particular emphasis on noise from motor vehicles and aircraft. As the House will remember, the Committee presented an Interim Report last summer on noise from motor vehicles, recommending the fixing of statutory limits. My right honourable friend the Minister of Transport proposes to give effect to nearly all these recommendations in new regulations, which he has recently circulated in draft for comment to the organisations concerned. These regulations would lay down maximum permissible noise levels for motor vehicles when used on the roads. They would also prescribe the instruments to be used for roadside tests and specify the conditions under which such tests must be carried out. As regards aircraft, my right honourable friend the Minister of Aviation will maintain the present strict control over movement and activity of aircraft in and near airports and will continue to support research into ways of reducing aircraft noise at source and to investigate other aspects of the problem. In this way, he aims at keeping the amount of aircraft noise to a minimum consistent with the needs of increasing air travel. My right honourable friends the Ministers of Education and Health and the Secretary of State for Scotland will seek to ensure that new schools and hospitals in the close vicinity of airports are designed to minimise noise inside the buildings and will continue to seek to reduce noise in existing buildings. The Government are, however, unable to accept the Committee's recommendation that grants should be paid towards the cost of soundproofing private houses near Heathrow. The Government are not satisfied that the situation at Heathrow justifies this recommendation. They believe it would be impossible to limit such grants to houses near airports and difficult, if not impossible, to distribute them within clearly defined categories of houses and in a manner which was fair both to the recipients and the rest of the community, who would have to meet the substantial cost. The Government have decided to accept a number of the recommendations relating to the need for additional research, for improved methods of disseminating information about the results of research and for making industry and the public aware of the need to avoid making unnecessary noise. My right hon. friends and I are already implementing some of these recommendations and are considering how the others should be implemented. For example, the Medical Research Councl and the National Physical Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research are co-operating in a joint project, sponsored by the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, to survey the effects of industrial noise on the hearing of workers by means of mobile laboratories whch will visit factories of various types. The Report contains a large number of recommendations covering other aspects of the problem of noise. In so far as they come within the direct responsibility of the Government, they will be dealt with by individual Minsters. Other recommendations will be discussed with local authorities and others concerned. Some require legislation. The Government cannot take a decision on these before consultation. This will be undertaken as soon as possible.