Westminster Open Spaces Noise Study 2008 Final Report

Westminster Open Spaces NoiseStudy 2008: Final Reportlowest tranquillity scores. However there are some notable exceptions, e.g. Victoria TowerGardens North where a high tranquillity rating is associated with a high noise level.5.1.10 Figure 6 shows little correlation between man made noise ratings (as judged byrespondents) and measured noise levels. In general, ratings of around -1 are common,indicating that at most sites man-made noise is clearly noticed irrespective of actual noisevalues. At four sites (Central area of St. James’s Park, Soho Square, Hyde Park Corner,and Victoria Gardens North), significantly higher negative values are noted for man madenoise ratings.5.1.11 A further insight into the role of man made noise in the overall tranquillity ratings can begained from Figure 7. This graph shows the overall tranquillity rating for each site, togetherwith the (negative) tranquillity rating for man made noise.Figure 7. Comparison of overall tranquillity ratings with tranquillity rating for manmade noise25.0Overall Tranquility RatingMan Made Noise Rating20.015.010.05.00.0-5.0Regent's Park - CentralAreaHyde Park - CentralAreaWestbourne GardensGolden SquarePaddington RecreationSt James's Park -Central AreaSoho SquareEbury SquarePaddington centralSt Anne'sLeicester SquareGardensInigo Jones GardensWestbourne EstateCanalsideHyde Park Corner WarMemorial (5 mins only)St Mary'sVictoria TowerGardens NorthLower GrosvenorRiverside WalkTrafalgar SquareHarrow Road5.1.12 This figure clearly shows sites such as Hyde Park Corner, where a strong negative manmade noise rating results in a low overall tranquillity rating. At other sites, such as StJames’s Park, a strong negative man made noise rating is compensated for by otherpositive factors, and a much relatively high overall tranquillity rating results.5.2 Other Noise Indicators5.2.1 The above analyses have focussed on the L Aeq noise indicator. Further analyses usingdifferent noise indicators are presented in Figure 8 to Figure 10 below. These graphspresent comparisons of the following noise indicators against the tranquillity ratings:• L Amax - The maximum measured noise level at the siteD121316/R1/0222Scott Wilson LtdMarch 2009