Environmental Noise (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Prosser, for introducing the debate and note that the members of the Merits Committee were indeed right back in the summer to review the lack of definition in this Government proposal. I have some serious concerns and questions which I hope the Minister will be able to address. I wonder whether the Government have considered any other ways of implementing these regulations which I note affect only England. For example, are the authorities in the devolved areas making changes? If so, do those changes follow exactly in all respects the ones being proposed for England? If not, in what respects do they differ? In particular, will the devolved Administrations amend the definition of "directive" precisely as proposed here? The Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee has drawn attention to the effect that the proposed Regulation 3 change to the definition of directive will have. It suggests that any change to the European directive will be passed straight into English law without Parliament having any opportunity to debate it. In relation to the committee’s concerns, Defra commented that if, ""an ambulatory reference brings in a substantial change in the law it is good practice for the responsible department to publicise it"." In view of the amount of bad practice demonstrated by Defra and its agencies—I am thinking of the Rural Payments Agency and Pirbright over the past few years—that statement comes into the "You cannot be serious" category. There is no certainty that such a law change will be known to all but a few and no chance that it can be democratically challenged. Defra also commented in reference to the ambulatory reference that, ""it is conceivable that it could cover substantive matters which might impact on costs for public authorities"" It is surely relevant that these costs will have to be met by the taxpayer and it is wrong to refuse Parliament the opportunity to discuss the implications. Can the Minister tell the House the implications for resources—personnel and the like—and costs in general? What is the timescale against which they will be incurred? The Explanatory Memorandum to these regulations states that the directive aims to determine exposure to environmental noise through noise mapping. So far, mapping covers 23 agglomerations—major roads, major railways and major airports. Is it envisaged that noise mapping will cover noise sources only from urban areas or those installations affecting a large area of land, or will it expand to cover smaller areas, for example, villages or hamlets? After all, noise disturbance can be particularly distressing in rural areas. Will Regulation 5 result in a wider dissemination of the location of quiet areas? Is Regulation 6 a response to the failure so far of the Government to attain the targets laid down in the existing regulations? Did the Government meet the September 2007 deadline and if not, where did they fail? There are no time limits set in the proposed Regulation 6, so what is the Government’s timetable for laying down the limit values or other criteria that will determine action plans? How long will it then take to produce such plans? The use of criteria to determine eligibility for anything can lead to serious errors. How will these criteria be assembled, discussed, implemented and reviewed, by whom and at what intervals? These regulations could have far-reaching consequences. Not only are important elements of our constitutional checks and balances affected, there is a real danger that it will set hares running and costs escalating with no parliamentary accountability. I repeat that I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, for giving us an opportunity to challenge their introduction, and indeed for educating me and, I hope, the wider world, of the significance of ambulatory references. It also gives the Minister a chance to explain what the Government are up to.