Debate requires more than hot air

The need to tackle hazardous levels of air pollution has been brought into sharp focus by a new report. According to Friends of the Earth Scotland the nation faces a “public health crisis”, with residents of Dundee and Perth among those with most to fear.

The campaign group warns that, despite pollution levels reaching dangerous levels well in excess of those contained in Scottish and European guidelines, there is a lack of both funding and political will to tackle the issue.

Some of the solutions being suggested are not palatable. Having been encouraged, in relatively recent times, to buy diesel motors, moves to penalise drivers of such vehicles will be far from universally popular.

Indeed, the case for congestion charging in smaller cities such as Dundee and Perth will have to be made far more persuasively if widespread public support is to be forthcoming.

Yet it is not as if such high levels of pollution are anything new.

For years, Tayside’s cities have been featuring in reports such as the one released this week.

Unacceptable air quality is just that, and action must be taken.

A park and ride scheme for Dundee is among the potential solutions most often mooted, but more than warm words will be required to get such an initiative off the ground.