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Which are Scotland's most polluted streets?

Do you commute along one of the worst offenders?

The most dangerously polluted streets in Scotland have been revealed by official monitoring.

14 streets in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Falkirk, Perth, Crieff and Cambuslang were a public danger thanks to particles and gases polluting the air in 2016.

“Our addiction to cars is killing us,” Emilia Hanna from Friends of the Earth Scotland told the Herald. “But it’s those who tend not to drive who are worst impacted by the pollution: children, the elderly, and those living in poverty.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland found that the most polluted place in Scotland is Hope Street in Glasgow.

Average levels of the nitrogen dioxide in 2016 were found to be 65 micrograms per cubic metre, more than 60 per cent over the legal limit of 40.

The nitrogen dioxide limit was also exceeded on Dumbarton Road in Glasgow, and on St John’s Road and Queensferry Road in Edinburgh.

In Aberdeen the limit was breached on Wellington Road and Union Street, in Dundee on Seagate, in Cambuslang on Main Street and in Perth on Atholl Street.

“The Scottish Government has a duty to ensure that people in Scotland can breathe clean air,” said Alan Andrews, a lawyer with the environmental group, ClientEarth.

“If the Scottish Government fails to take action it will be failing in its legal duty to protect the people of Scotland and will leave itself wide open to legal challenges in the Scottish courts.”

Dr Sean Semple, an air pollution expert from the University of Aberdeen said: “Inhaling fine particles and gases such as nitrogen dioxide at the levels reported in these streets has been shown to be associated with increases in mortality and ill-health, and with poorer quality of life.

“To improve air quality we need to consider restrictions on car use, particularly for short journeys, and look at ways of rebalancing our approach to personal transportation in favour of public transport, walking and cycling.”

Scotland's most polluted streets
  • Hope Street, Glasgow
  • St John's Road, Edinburgh
  • Wellington Road, Aberdeen
  • Seagate, Dundee
  • Main Street, Cambuslang
  • Union Street, Aberdeen
  • Queensferry Road, Edinburgh
  • Dumbarton Road, Glasgow
  • Atholl Street, Perth
  • Salamander Street, Edinburgh
  • King Street, Aberdeen
  • High Street, Crieff
  • West Bridge Street, Falkirk
  • Glasgow Road, Edinburgh

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6 comments

Avatar
stenmeister | 7 years ago
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Hope Street is bad but I already knew this and just avoid it if I am going into the city. As for Cambuslang, I'm sure it's bad during rush hour but at 7am it's alright. 

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strangerous | 7 years ago
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What would be more interesting is to know all locations where they took measurements - is this information available? I'd like to know if George Street in Oban was checked. Yeah, I know, "Oban - polluted... are you daft?" But George Street is ridiculously busy (with motorized vehicles).

Avatar
Man of Lard replied to strangerous | 7 years ago
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strangerous wrote:

What would be more interesting is to know all locations where they took measurements - is this information available? I'd like to know if George Street in Oban was checked. Yeah, I know, "Oban - polluted... are you daft?" But George Street is ridiculously busy (with motorized vehicles).

 

According to http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/most-polluted-streets

 

Quote:

Our analysis used data from the Automatic Monitoring Stations around Scotland which has been ratified from January 2016 - September 2016, with the October - December results to be ratified by this April. The list has been compiled based on information from the Government’s Scottish Air Quality Website (www.scottishairquality.co.uk) and we have only included data with over 75% data capture.  The monitors were a combination of roadside and kerbside monitors. It should be noted that at different sites, exposure levels to the general public will be different.

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HalfWheeler | 7 years ago
1 like

Hope St, main thoroughfare for all the buses entering the city centre. Buses are meant to be one of the 'green' choices.

Avatar
Man of Lard replied to HalfWheeler | 7 years ago
2 likes

HalfWheeler wrote:

Hope St, main thoroughfare for all the buses entering the city centre. Buses are meant to be one of the 'green' choices.

Except when the fleet of buses is nominally 20 years old and the engines are from 40-50 year old designs...

Avatar
StuInNorway replied to Man of Lard | 7 years ago
0 likes

Man of Lard wrote:

HalfWheeler wrote:

Hope St, main thoroughfare for all the buses entering the city centre. Buses are meant to be one of the 'green' choices.

Except when the fleet of buses is nominally 20 years old and the engines are from 40-50 year old designs...

 

They might be able to bag a bargain on some nice ultra modern hybrid busses shortly, modern design featuring windows you can't open and air-con that doesn't work as it overloads the hybrid systems. (Air con shouldn't be such an issue in the "North" as Londoners call it)  . . may need to set aside a few quid for some spare batteries as they didn't appear to last very long in Londons extreme stop-start environment. I suspect these busses (New Boris Busses) might actually be a good alternative outside of London, battery drive for pull off and around traffic lights, diesel kicking in when moving properly.

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