Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2014
The word “noxious” long predates the identification of NOx—nitrogen oxides—but is as fitting a word as any to describe them and their health effects on the people who have to breathe them in alongside particulate matter, especially the very young, the very old and those with existing respiratory conditions. I declare an interest as an asthmatic with two decades of prescriptions behind me who walks to work every day through an air quality management area. That gives me the advantage that, walking through some of Scotland’s most polluted streets in my constituency, I feel the pain of those who are affected—quite literally. As citizens of a modern, democratic nation, we should be able to expect the air that we breathe to sustain us rather than harm us.
Following the expansion last year of the part of central Edinburgh that is officially classified as polluted, I wrote to Lesley Hinds, the portfolio holder for transport and the environment at the City of Edinburgh Council and a Labour councillor, urging her and her officials to consider establishing a low emission zone in central Edinburgh. In particular, I was concerned about buses, having found figures that showed that, although some operators such as Lothian Buses had been exemplary in their roll-out of new vehicles, others had not kept up. I was inspired by examples from Norwich, Oxford and London, where local authorities have imposed minimum standards on all buses that enter the city centre. Since then, FirstBus has stepped up with a 425-unit order and Lothian Buses, which was enthusiastic in its response, has continued to be an enthusiastic customer of the Scottish Government’s green bus fund and the previous emissions reduction grant scheme.
The volume of heavy goods vehicles in the city centre has been reduced by the business improvement district’s collectivisation of commercial waste, and the City of Edinburgh Council has an enviable cross-party consensus on the need to invest more in cycling and walking routes, which other authorities should look to as an example. Successive council administrations of various colours have also used the limited lever of residents parking permit charges to incentivise lower emission vehicles.
For me, the lesson from the Edinburgh experience is clear: if there is to be change, it must be driven locally. The Scottish Government has an important role in providing support and in wielding the big stick of targets within the legal framework, demanding the action plans of which a welcome overhaul is in progress. However, municipalities must be on side, as we cannot nationalise the day-to-day management of every pavement, bus lane and high street in the land—nor should we, even if we could. We, in this place, could not set stronger fuel standards or further vehicle excise duty incentives.