‘ We should be taking people out of cars’

A FRESH plea to pedestrianise most streets in Glasgow City Centre has been issued by councillors in a bid to tackle air pollution.

It comes after the city met its target to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2020 two years ago – despite Glasgow’s total energy use increasing.

The local authority will focus its efforts on reducing heat demand in buildings in Glasgow, both from gas and electricity, as well as concentrating efforts on reducing emissions from transport.

At the environment committee, Labour councillor Jim Kavanagh pointed out that heat pumps could be used across the city to help address these issues.

Mr Kavanagh said: “We should be taking people out of cars. The only way to do that is to pedestrianise most streets within the city centre.

“I would like to pedestrianise the city centre because we could have a ring road drop- off which would be beneficial not only to the people but to the shoppers.

“People may say we are chasing them away from the city centre but we aren’t because they will be safer and better.”

The councillor then suggested that heat pumps could help with further decarbonisation of Glasgow.

He added: “It costs £ 16,000 at present for a heat pump to be installed in a house but it saves an absolute fortune for the household and for the economy and quite simply for the planet and for the city.”

Glasgow City Council has just concluded a public consultation on its local transport strategy which looks to reduce the volume of traffic coming into the city centre by 20%.

Council officer Gavin Slater said: “We will consider a number of approaches.

“In terms of heat pumps, absolutely they are one solution, as are heat networks and other such things in taking houses off gas.”