‘Don’t expect too much too soon,’ M40 action committee warned (From Bucks Free Press)

‘Don’t expect too much too soon,’ M40 action committee warned

11:50am Wednesday 19th October 2005

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RESIDENTS must stand together if they are to obtain effective motorway traffic noise reduction measures a pressure group has warned.

Ken Edwards, chairman of the M40 Chiltern Environmental Group (CEG), has advised a fledgling noise action group that it could take years to achieve any action to reduce the impact of traffic noise from the M40 affecting people in Flackwell Heath.

Flackwell Heath Residents Committee founder, Mark Walker, told the Free Press that his family life has suffered terribly from the noise levels generated by the motorway traffic in Loudwater.

He is trying to form a campaign group to restore some peace to the village.

But Mr Edwards has warned him not to expect too much too soon.

He said: "So far, only one stretch of the motorway route has been equipped with sound-proof fencing and a noise-reducing road surface, and that was long before our time."

He advised Mr Walker that protective sound barriers could greatly help to reduce traffic noise in conjunction with a quieter road surface, which helped to reduce noise levels along the M40 stretch from the junction with the M25 past Beaconsfield to Loudwater in 1995.

But he added: "This success followed a five-year campaign by residents from all the affected communities."

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