Ministers ask EU for more time to cut pollution in 'no clean city' Glasgow

Published Date: 30 January 2009
By Jenny Haworth
Environment Correspondent

SCOTLAND'S largest city is so polluted that the government is planning to beg the EU to be allowed more time to meet air-quality standards.
There are so many dust particles in the air above Glasgow that it is not meeting pollution targets that should have been reached three years ago.The European Commission announced yesterday it was starting legal action against the government, after eight areas of the UK, including Glasgow, failed to meet the targets for dust particles, known as PM10.They are mainly caused by traffic and the pollution has been linked with heart and lung problems. The targets should have been met by 2005, and they were set in 1996.WWF Scotland hit out at the failure and said Glasgow would be a disgrace when it hosts the Commonwealth Games if it does not clean up its act.Dr Dan Barlow, head of policy at the environment charity , said: "Glasgow will be hosting a major international event with thousands of visitors – surely we want to be able to promote Glasgow as a clean and healthy city rather than one with an air pollution problem?"He added: "It is shocking that we still have areas of poor air quality here in Scotland."We have known for a decade what these limits were. We have failed to take action."Scotland's biggest city has been breaching the target levels for years and the government's approach is to seek approval for it to continue to do this. "It's ducking the action necessary to address this."Target levels of the dust particle are being met across 99 per cent of the UK, but not by eight areas, including Glasgow, Swansea, Southampton, Brighton and the West Midlands. The UK is one of ten EU countries that have failed to keep concentrations of the particles below set levels.The European Commission has sent a first warning letter to the UK, which now has two months to respond before further action may be taken.If the UK continues to fail to comply, it could face a fine.The UK and Scottish Governments are consulting on a plan to ask the EU for a time extension, to give the country until 2011 to meet the targets.Stavros Dimas, the European commissioner for the environment, said: "Air pollution has serious impacts on health and compliance with the standards must be our utmost priority."While the new directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe allows time extensions for compliance if certain conditions are met, these must not delay measures to reduce emissions."A Scottish Government spokesman said: "EU limits have been met across most of Scotland."The only monitoring station where they have been exceeded is in central Glasgow, around Hope Street."Road traffic is by some margin the main source of this pollution and much of the reasons for non-compliance at this specific site are down to its characteristics – a narrow street and high buildings."He added: "Most other European member states have found it difficult to meet limit values across all of their territory and will therefore need to apply to the commission for time extensions similar to the UK's."A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said it was working on a new action plan."The plan sets out a number of proposed actions, ranging from the introduction of low emission zones within the city to tree planting, which have been identified to reduce levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter," he said.BACKGROUNDTHE consquences of inhaling particles of pollution known as particulates include asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular issues and premature death.It is estimated the problem causes between 22,000 and 52,000 deaths per year in the United States and 200,000 deaths a year in Europe.The small particles settle in people's bronchi and lungs, causing damage and disease.Particulate pollution's effects were first demonstrated in the early 1970s. The main cause is traffic, but industrial processes also create large amounts of the particles known as PM10.The smaller the particles, and the longer they have been in the atmosphere, the more serious the health problems they can cause.The problem is normally most acute in large cities.Some particulates occur naturally, originating from volcanoes, dust storms, forest and grassland fires, vegetation and even sea spray.