The present Noise Abatement Act came into effect in the Netherlands in 1979 and is now looked upon as being 'first generation' environmental legislation. At that time, however, the Act was considered to be very advanced. One of the reasons for this was the linkages made between noise abatement and spatial planning. The Act was set up on a sectoral basis as was -and is- most environmental legislation enacted at that time.
The Dutch Noise Abatement Act is detailed and complex, largely because it endeavours to cover every possible situation. And with the years, it has become increasingly more complex as various amendments and modifications have been made. As well as the Noise Abatement Act, there are other acts and regulations which cover noise abatement in the Netherlands, each of these has been formulated from a different perspective and at different levels of government - national, provincial and local.
Both the private sector and local government now say to feel encumbered by the administrative requirements of the Noise Abatement Act. The Act provides for a general country-wide noise limit of 50 dB. This means that local government frequently has to enter into lengthy procedures in applying to the provincial government for exemptions under the Act, for example, when spatial plans require a noise level above the general limit of 50 dB limit. Furthermore, discussions with municipal and provincial officials clearly indicate that they consider present legislation to be too rigid. It does not allow sufficient latitude for the various parties involved at local and regional level to weigh the different interests and to generate solutions to conflicts which inevitably occur at the interface between environment, economics and spatial planning. Thus to be able to formulate more integrated physical environment policy at the local level, local government wants more freedom not only in implementing policy as set out in the national legislation but also in selling policy at the local level. In other words, they want to be able to formulate their own local and regional policies on the environment within a national framework policy.
Nevertheless, it is important not to loose sight of the fact that the Dutch Noise Abatement
Act has been, and still is, very effective. It provides adequately for reducing noise annoyance
in new and existing residential areas, in planning industrial areas, and from transport
infrastructure. And also on the basis of the present Act a large-scale noise abatement
programme is in full swing in the Netherlands. It can be seen from the statistics that there has
been a significant reduction in noise annoyance since the implementation of the Noise
Abatement Act between 1979 and 1986.
However, the Dutch Noise Abatement Act has to be re-thought in order to eliminate the problems I have just outlined, and more importantly. to reduce noise annoyance more efficiently, and to accommodate the need for greater involvement of local government.