Fifteen Councils speak with one voice to reduce invasive noise from HS2 project

The HS2 Local Authority Noise Consortium, which includes Three Rivers District Council alongside 14 Local Councils, was presented with the John Connell Local Authority award at the Noise Abatement Society 2017 John Connell Awards, the ‘Noise Oscars’, held at the House of Commons.

There is certainly strength in numbers. The scope of this collaboration, between no less than 15 Councils, has been quite an extraordinary example of how, despite budget and manpower shortages, it was possible to achieve substantially more noise mitigation measures for this large scale infrastructure development, that was included in the original project Environmental Submission.

It allowed the effects of noise on the health and well-being of the communities adversely affected over the 18 years of construction, to be properly considered.

This consortium ran a cost-effective and professional campaign jointly funded on a firm basis of governance/legal agreements, good personal relationships, and clear and agreed mutual benefits. A highlight of this was the Information Paper F4 entitled “Operational Noise and Vibration Framework”.

HS2 Phase 1 is the first major infrastructure railway project to make this commitment to these noise mitigation measures.

The 15 Local Councils in the HS2 LANC are: London Borough of Camden, Chiltern DC, Aylesbury Vale DC, London Borough of Hillingdon, Three Rivers Council, South Buckinghamshire Council, Wycombe Council, Cherwell Council, South Northamptonshire Council, North Warwickshire Council, Solihull Council, Lichfield Council, Buckinghamshire Council, Warwickshire Council, and Staffordshire Council

Gloria Elliott, Noise Abatement Society Chief Executive, said: ‘NAS salutes this very worthy winner of the John Connell Local Authority Award – a shining example of how, speaking with one strong voice, these fifteen Council Environmental Protection teams found a successful way of working together to deliver significant improvements to the noise mitigation measures within the Environmental Submission for HS2’

The 2017 John Connell Awards were hosted by Damian Collins MP for Folkestone and Hythe and the Local Authority Awards were kindly sponsored by Rockwool.

The Under Secretary of State for Defra Thérèse Coffey presented the Local Authority award to the HS2 Local Authority Noise Consortium and addressed representatives from local authorities, industry, academics and acoustics experts at this popular event, the ‘Noise Oscars’, the only awards of their kind that support and reward innovations to improve our aural environment.