Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2014
I am sorry, but I have only four minutes.
Nor could we, should we wish to, take the more radical steps that Sweden proposes to remove fossil fuels from transport entirely by 2030. I am not sure how that proposal interacts with Patrick Harvie’s point about removing cars—surely non-emitting vehicles would not be as much of a problem.
Let us make no mistake—significant progress has been made. A fortnight ago, in an answer to a parliamentary question that I lodged, the Minister for Environment and Climate Change stated that, bar one stretch of intercity road, urban air quality in Scotland would reach European standards by 2015. That is considerably ahead of cities in the rest of the UK, where those standards will not be met until 2020 or, in the case of London, 2025. Indeed, it is much ahead of the rest of Europe, too.
However, the fact that Europe’s performance is six out of 10 and England’s performance is seven out of 10 does not mean that we should rest on our laurels if our performance is eight or nine out of 10. My constituents and the visitors to Princes Street, George Street, the west end, the Grassmarket, Gorgie Road and Dalry Road need the standard to reach 10 out of 10. I hope that, with the continuing offers of help and support from the Scottish Government and the substantive low emissions strategy, the City of Edinburgh Council treats the issue with the seriousness that it deserves. Councillor Hinds described my LEZ proposal as an “interesting proposal”. I hope that it will soon be a reality.
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