We all like to think we can live in peace at the weekends,
but for some people this can only be achieved thanks to the provision of sound
barriers in the local area. Working hard from Monday to Friday is a reality for
millions of people in the United Kingdom and beyond, and because of this we
often like nothing more than a bit of tranquil serenity when Saturdays and
Sundays come along. It may not seem like too much to ask for, but if you lived
close to a source of unbearable noise you might well think otherwise.
Every day of the working week, millions of commuters make
their way to work by train. They head off from their homes in the suburbs and
travel into the centre of our towns and cities, and of course they make the
return journey later in the day. For many of them, the trip offers a chance to
catch up on emails, or to keep abreast of current affairs via the newspapers or
even to read a chapter or two of their latest books. There are plenty of
others, of course, who have to stand and can only stare out of the windows
instead.
It’s a sad yet inevitable fact that most of the commuters
who travel by train rarely take note of the countryside that passes them by,
and they take even less of a note of the houses that are located close to the
train lines themselves. This is perhaps understandable, because we all tend to
travel in our own little bubbles without really noticing our surroundings. If
we were to do so, however, we might realise just how vital environmental noise
barriers can be to the people who live in these dwellings
If you live in a somewhat peaceful location, perhaps at the
end of a long drive or in the heart of a tranquil village, you could be
forgiven for thinking that sound barriers don’t need to be a particularly high
priority. It goes without saying that while you may not need them, others might
be desperate to have a few situated in their neighbourhoods. It’s not likely to
be easy to relax fully if there are speeding trains going past the house and
rattling the windows on a regular basis. For some people, this is an unwanted
everyday occurrence.
Environmental noise barriers near airports are crucial
You will find plenty of men, women and children in the UK
who live very close to Britain’s main airports, and these people know all about
the desperate need for sound barriers. There has been a great deal of talk about
the number of flights that take off and land at night at these locations, and
you can be sure that the local residents are all too aware of the impact this
has on their everyday lives. Noise barriers perform an excellent job, of
course, but they are never going to be able to deflect or absorb all of the
sound that is generated.
In and around London, there are four main airports -
Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted - as well as London City Airport, a
smaller facility that operates mainly business flights. This may seem like a
sufficient number of airports to satisfy the needs of any major international destination,
but in truth they are operating at more or less full capacity already. This
spells bad news for people who live close by, because there is likely to be
little or no respite either during the day or overnight. The racket, it would
appear, is surely here to stay.
Needless to say, the UK’s major roads are exceptionally busy
at times as well. In fact, they are often at a standstill when the morning and
evening peak hours are upon us. The resultant noise can be pleasingly low at
these points, but of course at others times, when the traffic is moving, the
effect on local residents can be awful. Just imagine what it must be like to
settle back in your favourite armchair to read a book for an hour and to have
constant disruptions caused by passing cars, trucks and vans.
This is even worse for anyone who has to work from home as
well. Whether you are a freelance copywriter, a self-employed proof-reader or a full-time student who studies
from home, you need as much peace and quiet as possible in order to perform to
the best of your abilities. No wonder some people would never even consider
noisy neighbourhoods when they seek a new place to live. It seems a shame that
the various environmental noise barriers dotted around the country do a superb
job, but there are occasions when even that is not going to prove to be enough.
