asked the Minister for Transport and Power if he will state the status of the report entitled Forecast of Aircraft Noise in the vicinity of Dublin Airport presented to him by Loughborough Consultants Ltd. and its relevance for planning authorities and other interested parties in regard to land use in the environs of the airport.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Aircraft Noise Report.
22.
The report is an advisory document intended for the information and guidance of Government departments and airport and local planning authorities concerned with the expansion of Dublin Airport and its implications for land use strategies. The report has been made available to the interested parties. It is for the planning authorities to take account of the findings of the report in dealing with the future development of the area in the neighbourhood of the airport. The report has been put on sale to the public and parties contemplating the provision of buildings, including dwellings, in the area would be well advised to study its contents.
Is the Minister satisfied that this report is of sufficient standing to be the basic document for land use strategies in this area?
No, it was never in tended to be that.
The Minister has just said that people should take note of it and act according to it.
Yes, if you are concerned with studying noise from aircraft but there are other factors besides noise which dictate to people where they should build in the area. There are such considerations as roads and such facilities as water and electricity and all these will have to be taken into account so that the overall planning strategy of, I suppose Dublin County Council, can be evolved.
The Minister is aware that the report itself purports to be capable of being used by planning authorities in their land use strategy.
It is that, but it is not the only thing to be used. This is a report that they should use because it will indicate to them the possible or probable noise level in various areas around Dublin Airport in the year 2000-2020.
Would the Minister agree that it is not a sufficiently exhaustive or, indeed, scientific study to be the basis, even from the point of view of noise?
No, I would not agree with the Deputy on that point.
Is the Minister aware that to a large extent this report, on which our authorities and private individuals are expected to act, in the main consists of taking results and policies from the Surrey County Council and applying them flatfootedly to our situation? Would the Minister further agree that it is not an in-depth study of our position in relation to the problem?
No, I do not because while the Surrey and Wilson Committee report are referred to in the Loughborough report that the Deputy has there, these are only used as a basis and an example of what can be done. Obviously, you cannot say that the same conditions obtain outside Dublin Airport. They got from my Department the types of aircraft it is thought would be used in these areas, the levels at which they would operate and the technical level of noise and they said that if these things were so at that time, and given the existence of the new runways and the flight paths used by those aircraft, you would then get this level of noise. I think the contours are shown on the map the Deputy has. It is not intended to dictate to Dublin County Council how they should develop their land strategy in North County Dublin but it is intended to be of help to them to show the effect the use of the airport would have on residents occupying that area at that time.
Would the Minister accept that the report contains a distinct recommendation that the ultimate contours to be taken as the basis for land use zoning in the question of planning applications——
I am sorry. Would the Deputy repeat that?
I am not allowed to quote. I am asking the Minister if he is aware that there is a specific recommendation in the report to the effect that these contours are to be taken as the basis for land use zoning in the area? Is the Minister aware that this report purports to be the basic guideline for land use strategies in this area?
No.
It is accepted as such.
If it is it should not be. It is only one of the documents that should be used in the decisions taken as to land use. What the reports say is that in County Dublin in the contours you have noise levels and, if you have these, even for large-scale dwellings it would be unacceptable. If you have it above a certain level, housing would be undesirable. Desirable and undesirable are the terms used.
Is the Minister aware that this report lays down specific recommendations as to zones and that these zones are clearly taken from the policy of the Surrey County Council?
This is repetition.
What the Deputy says is not so.
It goes further to recommend specifically these zones as more or less arbitrary in the Dublin County Council situation.
It does not.
I am afraid it does.
What this report does is, as I have said, try to forecast the type of aeroplanes and the number and the flight path taken from Dublin Airport between the years 2000 and 2020. It then says that, if these assumptions are correct, you will have such and such noise levels and, if you have noise of that level in particular places, then it is undesirable that there should be housing, or factories, or schools, or something else.
On the basis of Surrey County Council's policy.
This is developing into an argument. It will have to be continued at some other time. We must have finality at some stage at Question Time.
In view of the vital importance of land use strategy in this area, would the Minister not think that he himself should carry out an in-depth study for our particular purposes?
It is because of the importance of land use and the bearing of the airport on that land use this report was commissioned by my Department.
It is not worth anything.
It is worth something. It is definitive.
The remaining questions will appear on next Tuesday's Order Paper.