The Highways Noise Payments and Movable Homes (England) Regulations 2000

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations:

“additional carriageway” means a carriageway constructed or proposed to be constructed for a highway beside, above, or below an existing carriageway;

“alteration” in relation to a highway means a change in the location, width or level of a carriageway comprised in that highway (otherwise than by resurfacing), and “alter” and “altered” shall be construed accordingly;

“the authority”, in relation to a highway or an additional carriageway, means the highway authority who constructed or propose to construct that highway or additional carriageway or who altered or propose to alter that highway, as the case may be;

“the commencement date” is the date that these Regulations come into force;

“dB(A)” is a measure of sound pressure level (“A” weighting) in decibels indicated by measuring equipment which complies with the British Standard Specification for a precision sound level meter published on 14th September 1967 under number B.S. 4197: 1967;

“eligible home” has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 6;

“houseboat” means a boat or similar structure designed or adapted for use as a place of permanent habitation;

“L10” is the sound level in dB(A) which is exceeded for one-tenth of a period of one hour;

“L10 (18-hour)” is the arithmetic mean of all levels of L10 during a period from 0600 to 2400 hours on a normal working day;

“movable home” means—

(a)

a caravan within the meaning (as defined in Part I) of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960(1) and section 13 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968(2), (disregarding the provisions of subsection (2) of section 13), or

(b)

a houseboat;

“noise payment” has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 3(5);

“prevailing level” means the level of noise, expressed as a level of L10 (18-hour), one metre in front of the most exposed part of the most exposed facade of a movable home caused or expected to be caused by traffic using any highway immediately before works for the construction of a highway or additional carriageway, or for the alteration of a highway, were begun;

“qualifying period” means—

(a)

for a claim for a noise payment under regulation 3(1),

(i)

if the relevant date falls on or after 25th September 1990 and more than three years before the commencement date the period of three years expiring on the commencement date,

(ii)

if the relevant date falls not more than three years before or on or after the commencement date the period of three years from the relevant date, or

(b)

for a claim for a noise payment under regulation 3(3), the period commencing on a date one year before the start of the relevant works and ending on the date when the enjoyment of the movable home in question has been seriously adversely affected by noise caused by those works for six months;

“relevant highway” means—

(a)

a new highway, or

(b)

a highway which has been or is to be altered, or

(c)

a highway for which an additional carriageway has been or is to be constructed, if the new highway, the highway as so altered, or the additional carriageway (as the case may be) was first open to traffic on or after 25th September 1990;

“relevant date” means the date on which a highway or additional carriageway was first open to public traffic or, in the case of an altered highway, the date on which it was first open to public traffic after completion of the alteration;

“relevant noise level” means the level of noise, expressed as a level of L10 (18-hour), one metre in front of the most exposed part of the most exposed facade of a movable home caused or expected to be caused by traffic using or expected to use the highway in question;

“the relevant works” means the work or works to or for a relevant highway—

(a)

which cause or are expected to cause noise, or

(b)

following the completion of which the use of the relevant highway in question causes or is expected to cause noise;

“the 1988 Code” means the advice and instruction contained in the technical memorandum entitled “Calculation of Road Traffic Noise” published by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (1988).

(1)

1960 c. 62.

(2)

1968 c. 52.