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Roads: Construction

Asked by Mr Will ForsterLiberal DemocratDepartment for TransportTabled Answered 25 March 2026UIN 122382

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her department has assessed the impact of noise levels from National Highway project’s on community groups.

Answered by Simon Lightwood

National Highways is responsible for assessing noise associated with individual road schemes as part of the planning process, alongside managing noise from the Strategic Road Network more generally. The Department sets out its expectations on what National Highways must do to mitigate noise from the Strategic Road Network as part of its Road Investment Strategies, and will shortly be publishing the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3).

In the case of transport noise, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is responsible for assessing noise across England and conducts noise mapping as part of implementing the Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006. National Highways’s noise mitigation work is focused on those areas defined by Defra as Noise Important Areas, within its Noise Action Plans.

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