Clearing the air
The“no traffic” day will be hailed as a success by those who organised it ( Scotsman, 6 May). The environmental dividend cannot be terribly high as neighbouring streets still had traffic but the economic damage the city centre will have encountered might well be severe.
Banning cars which are more than five years old will affect a huge number of motorists who are also voters. If the attempt to “clean the air” is to be at all effective, all cars would need to be banned, and from a much wider area. The balance between the environment and everyday living will be severely tested.
At this interesting juncture, the SNP want independence and are promising a subse - quent economic boom for Scotland whilst adopting a zero emission policy. This is a mutually destructive ideology.
In keeping with S NP planning, the soundbites are far more important than the realities on the ground. An independent Scotland would be in dire financial straits, but have very clean air as you walk to the food bank.
(DR) GERALD EDWARDS
Broom Rd, Glasgow
The radical plans to ban polluting cars from the whole Edinburgh is a prime example of an apparently progressive policy with regressive impact.
Restrictions on older cars will hit not only the poorest residents of peripheral estates but disadvantaged communities in the wider city region such as Levenmouth (population 37,500), where car ownership of any type is considerably lower than the national average.
The sensible majority agree that pollution and carbon emissions need to be drastically reduced but realistic public transport options must be prioritised to fill the gap. On the Fife Coast, it’s a simple decision to reopen our mothballed rail link but that is continuously delayed by lack of courage and common sense by policy makers.
Scottish transport investment is still dominated by roads. The need for low emissions zones in Edinburgh is also a consequence of overcentralisation of public and private investment in the capital. Scotland has learned nothing from the unfolding London and South-East catastrophe, where over centralisation has created major, disruptive economic and social imbalance and unhealthy gridlock.
Time for a radical overhaul of transport policy and a proactive regional policy in Scotland.
ALLEN ARMSTRONG
(SECRETARY) Levenmouth Rail Campaign, College Street, Buckhaven, Fife