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On 2 November 2007, the Department for Transport (DfT) published a report (Attitudes to noise from aviation sources in England (ANASE): final report) which finds that people are more annoyed by all levels of aircraft noise than they were in 1985, when the last major study in this field was carried out. It finds secondly, that there is no identifiable threshold at which noise becomes a serious problem. Even relatively low levels of noise can cause some annoyance, which rises as the noise increases.
The Government will take these findings into account in developing air transport policy. However, the peer review makes clear that the study could not provide a reliable way of attaching a monetary figure to the impact of aircraft noise. While the peer reviewers recognised the "high standard" of the work underpinning the two key findings, they did not feel that the valuations produced by the study were conclusive and specifically counselled against "...using the detailed results from ANASE in the development of Government policy." Pending the availability of a better alternative, the existing valuation for road and rail noise will be applied when assessing the economic impact of noise in the cost-benefit analysis of future aviation projects.
Attitudes to noise from aviation sources in England (ANASE): final report (2 Mb)