§ Lord Redesdaleasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have made provision for compensation for those living close to the firing points on the Otterburn Training Area, and if so, when such information will be made available.
§ Lord HenleyMy department will pay compensation in accordance with its legal liability. Any member of the public who believes that he or she has suffered loss or damage as a result of these firings is at liberty to bring an action for compensation against the department.
§ Lord Redesdaleasked Her Majesty's Government:
What level of noise in decibels a AS90 self-propelled gun emits at half a kilometre, one kilometre, and one and a half kilometres and two 115WA kilometres firing at charge eight and charge five in the Northumberland National Park.
§ Lord HenleyAS90 has the same barrel and fires the same ammunition as the towed FH70 which has been in service and used at OTA since the mid 1970s. A comparative trial conducted last year proved conclusively that the difference in noise levels produced by the two guns at each charge is so small as to be insignificant (less than one decibel). While FH70 is occasionally fired from the Corsenside outside gun area using the top charge (charge eight), it is not planned to develop the necessary access to the outside gun area for AS90 and therefore it will be limited to a maximum of charge six, which will be fired within the training area boundary. Noise levels at distances beyond the immediate area of the gun are largely dependent on topography and prevailing meteorological conditions, which will vary each time a gun is fired. It is the practice of my department that private dwellings and areas of public use adjacent to military training areas will not be subjected to impulse noise above 130 decibels. At Otterburn the whole question of gun noise is being studied extensively by environmental consultants and their findings will form part of the environmental impact assessment which will accompany the submission of our notice of proposed development.