Newly-built homes often in areas with too much noise pollution

Municipalities are building thousands of homes in areas with more noise pollution than the national standards allow. The massive housing shortage has municipalities scrambling for appropriate construction sites, but there are few to be found. So they’re using legal shortcuts to build on old industrial estates, strips of land next to a highway or railway, or near the country’s largest airport, NRC reports.

Amersfoort plans to build over 600 homes next to an NS workshop and shunting yard. Haarlemmermeer will build 600 between Schiphol and a busy N-road. “Part of the apartments have a beautiful view of the Polderbaan,” the project developer wrote, failing to mention the 50 decibels of noise from the Schiphol runway plus 60 decibels from the nearby national road.

Vlaardingen plans a neighborhood of over 600 homes on Nieuwe Maas, directly opposite the Pernis industrial estate and surrounded by industry on three sides. “The future residents will have to be aware of the limitations of the area,” the developer said. Delft’s new Grasbuurt, with 168 spacious homes, is so close to the A13 highway that the developer is banning future residents from using the attic as a bedroom. That condition is in the deed.

And in Amsterdam, the noise pollution in the new Haven Stad neighborhood is so severe that the municipality is considering having residents declare in the purchase contract that they are aware of the noise. The city is “carefully weighing interests,” but they are stuck because the housing shortage is massive and the noise pollution is too high in many places. The city will try to compensate for the noise with quiet inner gardens and well-insulated walls. It is also trying to move roads to reduce the noise but needs cooperation from the national government for that, a spokesperson said to the newspaper.

In recent years, new scientific research has shown that noise has a more significant effect on people’s health than previously thought. Noise pollution can lead to severe insomnia, stress, and heart problems. In 2018, the World Health Organization recommended that the standards be lowered. The RIVM made a similar recommendation the following year.

But the Netherlands is doing the opposite, allowing up to 70 decibels of noise on the facades of homes near municipal roads in the Environment Act set to take effect on January 1st. That is 17 decibels higher than the WHO recommendation and comparable to a vacuum cleaner, according to NRC.

According to Fred Woudenberg, head of the living environment at GGD Amsterdam and former member of the Health Council, health is losing out against the high pressure to build houses. “Noise is one of the few environmental problems that has not diminished in recent years. Unlike air pollution or smells, technical measures cannot reduce noise. The pressure to build new homes is so great that many experts at municipalities have been hired only to push the boundaries.”

And people will live in these too noisy homes, despite the damage to their health, he said. Free choice of housing is an illusion. “Even if you were to build social housing on the Schiphol runway, people will live there.” Because there are no other options, Woudenberg said.