Noise & sound pollution map
Worried about noise? The Noise layer overlays official road and rail strategic-noise data, so you can see how much sound pollution a neighbourhood gets from nearby traffic and railways before you move.
What the map shows
A coloured heatmap of road and rail noise (the Lden day-evening-night level), loudest along motorways, busy roads and railway corridors and fading across quieter areas. Switch to the Noise layer and search an address to check a street.
Where the data comes from
Official strategic noise maps made under the EU Environmental Noise Directive: DEFRA (England), Natural Resources Wales and SEPA (Scotland), published under the Open Government Licence.
Coverage and caveats
Covers Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland); Northern Ireland is not included. It models major roads and railways, not every minor street, and this layer does not include aircraft or industrial noise.
Homes in areas with 65 dB+ road or rail noise: top and bottom 10 councils
Noisiest
| 1 | Westminster | 26.2% |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | City of London | 25.8% |
| 3 | Kensington and Chelsea | 25.8% |
| 4 | Camden | 24.2% |
| 5 | Tower Hamlets | 23.4% |
| 6 | Southwark | 21.1% |
| 7 | Lambeth | 20.7% |
| 8 | Islington | 20.5% |
| 9 | Hackney | 19.7% |
| 10 | Wandsworth | 18.9% |
Quietest
| 1 | Isles of Scilly | 0.0% |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Na h-Eileanan Siar | 1.0% |
| 3 | Maldon | 1.6% |
| 4 | Orkney Islands | 1.7% |
| 5 | Torridge | 1.7% |
| 6 | Highland | 1.9% |
| 7 | Shetland Islands | 2.0% |
| 8 | Forest of Dean | 2.0% |
| 9 | Barrow-in-Furness | 2.1% |
| 10 | East Cambridgeshire | 2.1% |
Strategic noise maps (Round 4), Great Britain, weighted by households. Ranked across 363 councils; the low end counts up from the bottom. See every council.
Common questions
What noise does the map show?
Modelled road and rail noise — the Lden day-evening-night sound level — from the official strategic noise maps. It is loudest along motorways, busy roads and railway corridors.
What is Lden?
Lden is the average sound level over a full year, weighted so evening noise counts 5 dB extra and night noise 10 dB extra — the EU-standard way of measuring annoyance from transport noise.
Does the map include aircraft or neighbour noise?
No. The layer models major roads and railways only — not aircraft, industry, construction or neighbours. A quiet street on this map can still be under a flight path.
Where does the noise data come from?
The strategic noise maps that DEFRA (England), Natural Resources Wales and SEPA (Scotland) publish under the Environmental Noise Directive, as open data. Northern Ireland publishes no equivalent open dataset, so it is not covered.
Other layers
UK schools map · Nursery & pre-school map · Social housing & council homes map · Crime & anti-social behaviour map · Parks & green space map · House prices per m² map · Deprivation map (whole UK) · Broadband speed map · Social housing by council