Greens: councils must not roll back on air pollution efforts
Scottish councils must not roll back on efforts to reduce air pollution in traffic hotspots, the Scottish Greens have said.
At First Minister’s Questions West of Scotland MSP Ross Greer raised plans by East Dunbartonshire Council to remove an ‘Air Quality Management Area’ (AQMA) covering a pollution hotspot which includes a primary school.
This is despite the AQMA regularly recording air pollution three times as high as the safe limits recommended by the World Health Organisation.
Commenting, Ross Greer said: “Air pollution, mainly from road traffic, kills 2,500 people in Scotland each year and puts the population at risk of serious health conditions such as asthma, heart attacks, and strokes. Studies have shown children are at particular risk from traffic fumes, which is why many of the equipment set up to monitor this is outside primary schools.
“It isn’t acceptable for councils to roll back on their efforts to reduce this pollution when the World Health Organisation has just recommended far stronger air quality standards. The monitored area in Bearsden, for example, regularly records pollution three times what the World Health Organisation recommends as safe.
"Councils need to take this urgent public health issue far more seriously. We have seen progress on Low Emission Zones in communities with Scottish Green councillors, which shows the clear need to elect more Greens in May to the councils which are dragging their feet or even going backwards.”