Kelvin Hopkins MP for Luton North has been pressing hard for the erection of noise barriers along the M1 through Luton to protect homes and schools from the noise of the vast quantity of motorway traffic pouring through the town every hour of the day and night.
Following a number of letters to the Highways Agency, Kelvin Hopkins says - "I have just received a lengthy reply stating that the Agency has now received the results of a detailed survey of noise conditions between Junctions 10 and 12 on the M1. This shows that 772 properties are affected by noise "greater than 68 db(a)." The Agency continues, "The Report shows that through the provision of noise barriers over extended lengths and varying in height between 2 and 3 metres, it would be feasible to provide substantial noise reduction benefits for many properties". The Report has now gone forward for the next stage of a review of national priorities for action "within the allocated budget".
Kelvin says - "Progress is dreadfully slow towards the erection of barriers along the M1 through my constituency. I have said time and again that Luton is a special case, because nowhere between London and the North does the M1 pass so close to homes and schools as it does in Luton. Whilst the study is useful, common sense indicates that barriers should have been erected years ago, and I find the continuing delay unacceptable. That is why I am writing again to Roads Minister, Lord Larry Whitty to ask him to use his influence to bring forward the construction of sound absorbent barriers on the M1 in Luton. We are a special case by any standards, and it is time to cut through the red tape and get the barriers built."
"I am concerned about the potential effect of financial constraints on the building of the barriers. There is a reference to "a ring fenced annual budget of £5 million for measures to counter traffic noise". £5 million as a national budget is a trifling amount of money and it would be unacceptable if the building of barriers in Luton were to be delayed because of lack of financial resources. A second concern is that we might have a cheap job, rather than the right job. The barriers have got to be high enough and robust enough to do the job properly, and I would also like to see proper landscaping, hedge and tree planting and foliage along the barriers to give them a pleasant and attractive appearance. I would hope too that the barriers and associated trees and hedges would help to contain some of the airborne pollution too. In the longer run I would have thought that total containment of the motorway through Luton would be the ideal solution. That will not happen for some time to come, and would be expensive. That will not stop me campaigning for containment even after barriers are erected, and I am putting this to the Minister in my letter.
"The people of Luton North have waited long enough and suffered too much from M1 noise and I want action soon."
