Issue - meetings

Debbie Donald on behalf of Cairndow Community Council and Alex Smith, Police Scotland held a conversation regarding what could be done to tackle motorbike noise pollution in the Cairndow area as the noise and speed issues were a serious concern for the local community.

It was noted that Police Scotland can stop motorcyclists and check if exhausts meet the legal requirements.

The Environmental Health Officer provided the Forum with the following email update:

The request for noise monitoring of weekend motorbike activity in the Cairndow area to be undertaken by Environmental Health cannot be carried out by this Service as the noise and causes currently being discussed do not fall under any of our statutory functions. We do not have the capacity to carry out non-statutory functions however you could consider engaging a noise consultant to obtain the required readings.

Noise from vehicles on the road cannot be dealt with under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as a statutory nuisance, nor do we have the legal authority to stop any vehicles, so even if noise measurements were taken by this Service no action would be possible against the individuals responsible, this would be a Police matter.

There are a number of potential actions that can be taken to reduce the impact of noise from motorcycles which include;

1)    Educational campaigns to inform motorcyclists of the impact to neighbours that fast accelerations and speeding has to noise and safety such as posters and signage

2)    Reducing speed limits or provision of traffic calming measures where appropriate

3)    Enforcement campaigns at the roadside that stop individual motorcyclists that are accelerating hard and/or speeding which includes measuring the noise output from their exhausts to identify illegal and/or modified set ups – this would fall to the Police

4)    Individual dwellings installing acoustic fencing to act as a shield to traffic noise (common in inner cities for residential areas next to trunk routes etc)

        Outcome

The Cowal Transport Forum agreed to raise this matter with Transport Scotland and contact Police Scotland with a request that they monitor the situation locally.