Carlow County Council Noise Action Plan 2024 – 2028
Environmental noise is recognised as a significant environmental issue with potential impacts on public health, quality of life, and the natural environment. This Noise Action Plan forms part of a coordinated European approach to managing environmental noise and aims to protect and improve the acoustic environment for the residents of County Carlow.
This Noise Action Plan has been prepared by Carlow County Council to address environmental noise from major roads with more than three million vehicles per annum. The action planning area covers sections of the M9, N80, R724, R448, R430 & R417. It is a follow up to the 2018-2023 Noise Action Plan which addressed environmental noise from roads with more than three million vehicles per annum and the 2008 Noise Action Plan which addressed environmental noise from roads with more than six million vehicles per annum.
The plan has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of EU Directive 2002/49/EC (known as the Environmental Noise Directive, or “END”), which was transposed into Irish Law by the Environmental Noise Regulations 2006, SI No. 140 of 2006, as amended. The aim of the Directive and the Regulations is to provide for the implementation of a European Community common approach to avoid, prevent or reduce on a prioritised basis the harmful effects, including annoyance, due to exposure to environmental noise.
This Plan also supports national policy, including the National Planning Framework 2040, which promotes the proactive management of environmental noise to safeguard human health and enhance quality of life through integrated planning and environmental protection.
Environmental noise is unwanted or harmful outdoor sound created by human activities, including noise emitted by means of transport, road traffic, rail traffic, air traffic and noise in agglomerations over a specified size. The Regulations do not apply to noise caused by the exposed person, domestic activities, neighbour noise, workplace noise, or noise from military activities in military areas.
The objectives of the plan are to develop a sustainable approach to the planning and management of environmental noise within the region of County Carlow and to reduce the overall number of people exposed to high levels of noise. Management of the existing noise environment may be achieved by prioritising areas for which further assessment and possible noise mitigation may be required. Protection of the future noise environment may be achieved by acoustical planning, which further incorporates noise into the planning process via measures such as land-use planning, development planning, sound insulation measures, traffic planning and control of environmental noise sources.
The Council will monitor environmental noise and review the effectiveness of the measures identified in this Plan over its lifetime. The Plan will be subject to periodic review in line with legislative requirements. The Noise Action Plan has been screened for Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) in accordance with relevant environmental legislation.
A copy of the Carlow County Council Noise Action Plan 2024-2028 and the Round 4 Strategic Noise Maps can be viewed using the links below. Copies of the SEA and AA Screening Reports together with the Determinations for each are also provide in separate links.
Strategic Noise Maps
The Environmental Noise Directive (END) and the European Communities (Environmental Noise) Regulations 2018 to 2021 (The Regulations) require Strategic Noise Maps to be prepared for the agglomeration of Carlow.
Noise maps are prepared every 5 years, with the latest report - Round 4 Strategic Noise Maps available on EPA Maps). The Round 4 Noise action plans (NAPs) should now all be published (see NAP links below).
Navigate to 'Environment and Wellbeing' and in the dropdown menu select 'Noise'.
- Select the required dataset using the slider buttons (e.g. Noise Round 4 Road National - Lnight.)
- Expand the Table of Contents on the left-hand side to view the legend.
- An information section and Full Metadata sets (i) are available on each of the maps.
Note; The main focus of noise maps is for the strategic management of environmental noise, based upon a notional annual average day. The maps can be used to assess noise exposure in a given area.
How to access data | Environmental Protection Agency
What is a Strategic Noise Map Environmental Protection Agency