Atholl Street on list of pollution shame Councillors meet to tackle congestion-choked hot-spots
Perthshire again has two streets on a list of Scotland’s most polluted in 2016, according to newly-compiled figures.
Friends of the Earth Scotland says Atholl Street in Perth and Crieff’s High Street need firm commitments to put things right.
But the group is also highlighting the potential affect on Scone where the CrossTay Link Road is being held up as part of the solution to the congestion-choked city centre.
The city route topped the list of most polluted streets for Particulate Matter (PM10), with a reading of 21 microgrammes per cubic metre, above the Scottish standard of 18. It had a nitrogen dioxide (NO2) reading of above 40, which is the maximum legal limit.
And the Strathearn road had a particulate matter reading of 19 microgrammes per cubic metre.
The news comes just days after councillors met on the pollution-problem routes, where proposed solutions in the long-term were discussed, including restricting some of the most polluting vehicles from problem areas.
All of Perth and Crieff town centre streets are official management zones, meaning that the council has declared that they experience regular breaches of pollution safety standards.
Friends of the Earth Scotland Air Pollution Campaigner Emilia Hanna said: “Air pollution from traffic is a public health crisis, claiming thousands of lives each year and particularly harmful for small children, pregnant women and people living in poverty. For people living in an official Pollution Zone or near traffic- choked streets, breathing in toxic air is an inescapable fact of life. It should not be this way, we have the right to breathe clean air just as we have the right to drink clean water.
“The Scottish Government and local authorities are not tackling this public health crisis with the seriousness and urgency required. The Scottish Government has promised a “plan” for Low Emission Zones by 2018 but needs to make a public commitment that it will provide significant funding, so that local councils can get on with making serious plans to clean up the air in their area. Councils will be reluctant to introduce a Low Emission Zone unless they know there will be funding to help set them up.”
Jill Belch, from Scone and District Community Council, said: “It is well recognised that significant ill health such as heart attacks and strokes are associated with high pollution. These illegal levels in Perth, now also detected in Scone, led Atholl Street in Perth to an embargo on any non-brownfield developments before the Cross Tay Link Road was built. This embargo was to prevent any increase in traffic feeding into Atholl Street and its surrounding polluted area.
“We cannot understand why such a disregard to our health is happening with the removal of this embargo, for this development. I am now deeply worried about the health of this community and that around Atholl Street.”