Scotland's most polluted streets named as road in Glasgow crowned dirtiest

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland's most polluted streets have been revealed - despite major air quality improvements in cities. Campaigners found Scotland as a whole had stayed within its legal air pollution limits last year - for the first time ever outside of 2020’s Covid lockdown.But Friends of the Earth Scotland research found Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen still dominated the list of the country’s dirtiest streets in 2022.That includes thoroughfares like Glasgow’s Hope Street, Queensferry Road in the capital and Aberdeen’s Union Street.However, while Hope Street broke the legal limit for diesel pollution in 2021, last year it saw one of the biggest improvements in air quality.It follows Glasgow becoming the first place in Scotland to launch a Low Emission Zone back in 2019, annually restricting more and more polluting buses.Now every bus going through the city centre has to meet the minimum emission standard, with private cars to follow in June this year.Gavin Thomson, transport campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “It’s great that progress is being made to improve some of our most polluted streets.“People in Glasgow can breathe a little easier as a result of the LEZ and fewer polluting vehicles in the city centre.“The buses along Hope Street these days are often electric, which are better for the climate and for our lungs.“The LEZs coming to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee will bring similar improvements and protections for public health.“But for Scotland’s other cities such as Inverness and Perth, toxic air pollution persists with no clear plan for addressing it.”Air pollution kills 2,500 Scots each year and puts kids, the elderly and the medically vulnerable at risk of serious health conditions, like asthma, heart