§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what road noise reduction surfaces his Department has recently approved for use. [109378]
§ Mr. HillI have asked the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, Mr. Peter Nutt, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Jon Seddon to Mr. Mark Oaten, dated 10 February 2000:
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions has asked me to respond to your question about what road noise reduction surfaces his Department has recently approved for use. In the absence of the Chief Executive I am responding to the question.In addition to porous asphalt and exposed aggregate concrete which are included in the specification for trunk road construction, to date the Highways Agency has approved, for use on trunk roads in England, fifteen proprietary surfacing products which have been shown to generate significantly lower noise levels than conventional surfaces. Six of these products were approved in the past year. They are already being widely used for surfacing roads that need maintenance.For the future, a new scheme for approving a range of innovative products has been set up with other highway authorities under which the British Board of Agreement will certify that products meet the specified performance requirements.
§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will treat applications in respect of properties on existing roads for double glazing as a method of noise reduction for residents in the same way as such applications in respect of properties on new roads. [109379]
§ Mr. HillThe Noise Insulation Regulations apply to properties affected by existing roads which have been physically altered as well as to new roads. I have no plans to extend the scope of these Regulations to properties affected by unaltered roads.