Parts of the city can be very noisy, but your can help

Time is running out for you to give your views on noise in Bristol. The current consultation about noise in the city has been running through most of 2009 but will close this Christmas (2009). You can participate in several ways:

1) by adding markers to the quiet "layer" of this map identifying areas which are quiet or could be quiet with a little help

2) visit the consultation web site www.askbristol.com/noise or

3) fill in this online survey

Watch this video to find out a bit more about what the council is trying to achieve.

There are lots more videos about the noise consultation on the Bristol City Council YouTube channel .

All of the information that people provide will be fed into the "noise action plan" that is being written by the council and DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), that is to be published in 2010. This plan will set out ways in which parts of the city can be made less noisy leading to improved health and well being of everyone who lives or works in Bristol.

Because we live with so much noise we often forget how harmful it can be. Noise can directly cause a number of real physical or medical conditions including annoyance, cognitive performance degradation, sleep disturbance, heart disease, hearing loss, depression and hypertension.

Noise can also affect our social lives as we spend less time outside talking to neighbours or interacting with people in public spaces.

About 40% of the UK report being bothered by traffic noise and that number is even higher in Bristol at 45% according to a recent survey.

We can all be more considerate to each other by trying to reduce the amount of traffic noise we make. You could join the many people who prefer walking and cycling to driving and enjoy the health benefits of making more journeys this way. Planning your car trips better can also reduce the noise by travelling at times when there is less traffic about and by combining trips so the total distance is reduced.

Don't suffer in silence, make a noise about quiet spaces.