Housing next to Motorway - Would you ?

Cyril

I was recently driving up the M3 and was amazed at the number of flats / houses built literally 20ft from the Motorway.

They all seemed to be occupied and had what looked like acoustic fencing bordering the road but I don't know how effective that stuff is.

My view is that most of us have to live with some undesirable noise, ie under a flight path, train lines, major roads etc.

Was just wondering whether this is a planning policy for new build in that we want to retain green belt land if possible so they are building where there is already a blight on the landscape ie a motorway.

Any thoughts

tomitma

No WAY, I have a friend, who has lived in a beautiful farmhouse for 30 years, then about 10 years ago they built a dual carriageway just a quarter of a mile from her home, it has spoiled it completely, you can not sit in the garden in the summer because of the noise, if you open a window, you cant hear the TV or radio. You must be nuts to buy a house there.

lincroft1710

Over the past 20 years several villages in Bedfordshire have been bypassed with a field or two between the new road and the edge of the village. Virtually as soon as the bypass was opened, work started infilling the fields with housing, the nearest being 20 yds from the carriageway.

vikingaero

My parents live within about 200m of a motorway and the noise has never been an issue. You get used to it and you learn to filter out the noise.

I live about 1.5 miles from a motorway and on a still night I can hear the faint roar of tyres.

If anything I find the constant twittering and chirping of birds from 4am to near midnight to be more of a PITA.

BitterAndTwisted

As a teenager I lived right under one of the flight-paths of Heathrow and later lived in a house with the District Line passing the end of the garden. It's amazing how easy it is to become habituated to constant low-level noise and even quite high-level as well although in neither of the places I mentioned this noise went on all through the night as you might experience right next to a motorway.

dizziblonde

Depends on how the places are laid out if you can hear things or not. We live no more than 5 minutes drive from the M1 and you can't hear a thing of it where we are. I don't know how bad it is for the houses even nearer though (mind you, with the mess the M1's been in in terms of roadworks around here lately - moving traffic is somewhat of a novelty).

Only issues we have are my supply agency telling me they've got work "just down the road" when the road in question is the motorway and the south of Leicestershire (like nooooooo way am I trekking that far for a half-day booking with 10 minutes till the start of school), and every relative/friend we have "just popping in to see you" and using us as a cheap substitute for the motorway services.

As a student I lived right near the cathedral in Durham when in halls of residence - with time you can even tune out something as loud as the cathedral bells anyway! I used to be able to hear the trains in the distance in my old flat and found it quite strangely comforting to be honest... could also hear the crowds at Pride Park football ground - but with how Derby were playing at the time it was quite quiet really!

irenee

I live in Fleet, a town near the M3 - I suspect you might well have seen the houses/flats on Elvetham Heath Estate (between Junctions 5 and 4A) - they can clearly be seen from the motorway

Like you I would not like to live in them, but having spent many happy hours exploring the nature reserve on the estate I can honestly say that, even in the open air, the motorway noise is not too invasive

Presumably if you have double-glazed windows and you don't open them (even in summer) it is possible to not 'hear' the noise - personally I would be much more concerned with the polluting emissions from the masses of vehicles driving up and down the road

I would also add that on still nights I can hear the 'low rumble' of traffic on the M3 and I'm about 2.5 miles away as the crow flies

property.advert

If you have ever lived in a capital city centre then it is virtually 24 hour a day noise. You get used to it and the quiet and different noises of the countryside can be more annoying.

I never thought I would get used to the sound of airconditioners but I did. Then without them I missed it !

My guess is that such properties would be discounted, sometimes enough to make them a good BTL venture but not necessarily somewhere I would want to live.