In the United Kingdom, procedures are laid down by the Department of Transport (DoT) (DoT) in order to obtain the level of noise generated by a road, calculated at a particular reception point. The procedures exist primarily for the determination of entitlement to compensation under the Noise Insulation Regulations. However, they are also intended to provide guidance for calculating traffic noise for more general applications such as planning fo r land use, highway design and, significantly for this work, environmental appraisal of road schemes.
The noise levels are categorised according to the decibel measure (dB(A)) where, in general, level A at less than 55 dB(A) represents the acceptable limits for noise, with no compensation liable for mitigation, and for which planning permission would prob ably not be refused on grounds of noise, with Level D at over 72 dB(A) definitely above the limits for approval.