Price tag on cleaner air
Pollution projects come at a cost
Proposed solutions for high levels of pollution caused by traffic in Perth and Crieff could be costly to implement, a council convenor has said.
Choked environments around Atholl Street have seen a Perth-wide air quality management area set up, with a similar move at the A85 through the heart of Crieff.
Now those provisions could be torn up, with a lowemission zone considered as a potential solution, effectively banning certain classes of vehicles from problem areas.
But that could come at a cost.
Environment convenor Alan Grant said: “We can’t really stop people or a vehicle from ignoring the areas but we could take a photo of their registration to detect them.
“But that comes with an administration, which will need consideration.”
In the past few years nearly £170,000 has been spent on a range of measures to clean up the city’s most polluted congested routes but at key times of year they still breach regulations for particulates.
The A989 at Atholl Street has been named one of Scotland’s most polluted roads with an annual average of 48 microgrammes of nitrogen dioxide detected per cubic metre. The legal limit is 40.
High levels of the gas have been linked to ill-health, aggravation of underlying disorders and premature death.
The council’s principal environmental health officer Kirsty Steven called for a taskforce called then corporate air quality working group to be set up to develop a strategy to improve air quality.
She said Perth and Crieff could benefit from the creation of low-emission zones.
This would involve setting maximum emission standards for a defined area and either charging or excluding vehicles which do not meet those standards.
A similar larger scheme was introduced in central London nine years ago.
Another proposal is to establish a clean air zone which would look at setting up different entry standards for the most polluting vehicles.
Certain traffic, based on weight, could be stopped from entering polluted areas at certain times of the day.
The council may also carry out a wider appraisal of its traffic management strategy and could attach air quality conditions to licences for taxis and buses.
Ms Steven said: “The application of such controls has yet to be determined but could have significant future impacts in these areas.
“However, there also exists the opportunity to consider a modern, multidisciplinary approach to city development and alternative travel.”
The council has received an extra £140,000 of Scottish Government funding to fight air pollution over the coming year.
Nearly £120,000 was received in 2015 to implement a range of measures, including encouraging children to walk and cycle to school and bus interchange improvements in Crieff.
Four air quality monitors have been installed to measure pollutant levels round the clock.
Ms Steven said: “An internal regulatory service steering group on air quality was recently formed to assist in progressing a more integrated approach to air quality.”
The environment committee considered the report, with technical matters such as classifications of lorries also discussed.
And the committee was also told that other improvement efforts are in the offing, with construction of the multi-million pound cross-Tay link road under way. In the longer term this would help traffic avoid Perth city centre.
Councillor Kate Howie drew on her experience from living in Berlin, where there is a vehicle ban based on odd and even registration plate details for certain days. Atholl Street in Perth