Rob Edwards

Scottish ministers under attack for cutting air tax

from Sunday Herald, 15 November 2015

Scottish ministers have come under fierce fire for planning to boost climate pollution by cutting one of the few taxes on flying.

The government’s promise to halve and then abolish air passenger duty (APD) in Scotland would be “totally counterproductive” say leading environmentalists, who are pressing for the tax to stay.

The SNP government wants to help the Scottish economy by cutting APD 50 per cent in April 2018 and then getting rid of it altogether “when public finances permit”. But the plan has provoked growing opposition because it could make it more difficult to meet Scotland’s ambitious targets to combat climate change.

Mike Robinson, a board member of the umbrella group, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, who sits on the government’s APD stakeholder forum, pointed out that aviation has kept growing despite the tax.

“All this cut will do is to leave a handful of regular fliers slightly better off, the aviation industry a little richer, and the tax man and the environment very much the poorer,” he told the Sunday Herald.

“And this in an industry which according to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the UK Treasury is one of the least taxed industries in the world.”

Coastal railways around Britain at risk from climate change, warns expert

from The Guardian, 24 March 2015

Hundreds of kilometres of railway lines around Britain’s coast are becoming increasingly vulnerable to waves, landslides and storms triggered by climate pollution, an expert has warned. 

Professor Robert Duck from the University of Dundee says that numerous sections of railway in Wales, Cumbria, Devon and elsewhere are at risk of being washed away because they skirt so close to the sea. Three lines had to close in 2014 after being damaged by waves, most memorably at Dawlish on the south coast of Devon where the track was left hanging in mid-air.

Trains on some of the vulnerable coastal tracks carry nuclear waste to the Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria and from the Wylfa nuclear site in north Wales. They are also vital lifelines for hundreds of communities. 

Duck is the author of a new book on UK coastal railways called ‘On the Edge’ to be launched this week. It points out that over 150 kilometres of the operating railway network in Wales are on the coast, along with many other stretches around England and Scotland.

The seawall protecting the railway at Dawlish was destroyed in February 2014 and the line was out of action for two months. “This was a dramatic example of the problems we face as climate change leads to more storms and exacerbates coastal erosion,” says Duck.

Government at risk of hefty fines as air pollution targets slip five years

from Sunday Herald, 20 July 2014

Plans to cut dangerous levels of air pollution from traffic across large parts of urban Scotland have been delayed by five years, putting the UK and Scottish governments at risk of multi-million pound fines for breaching environmental law.

Glasgow is not now expected to comply with air pollution safety limits until 2025, while Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and other conurbations won’t meet the limits until 2020. The delays mean Scotland has become deeply embroiled in a major legal case that has already found the UK government guilty of breaking air pollution law. 

The delays have appalled environmentalists, who warn that thousands more people living in Scotland’s cities will suffer and die as a result. For the Scottish government, they were “disappointing”, while local authorities stressed the work they were doing to cut pollution.

Toxic particles from vehicle exhausts are blamed for killing at least 1,600 people a year in Scotland, and 166,000 a year across Western Europe. They can trigger heart attacks, aggravate lung diseases and cause infections.

The UK, along with other countries in Europe, agreed to an air pollution law that required levels of nitrogen dioxide gas in cities to be brought below safety limits by 2010. But because it had difficulties meeting this target, it applied for extensions until 2015.

Air pollution in Scotland’s city streets gets worse

from Sunday Herald, 20 July 2014

Toxic air pollution from vehicle exhausts is worsening at five busy streets in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, according to the latest official monitoring.

Average levels of nitrogen dioxide gas have shot up on the Byres Road in Glasgow from 45 to 54 microgrammes per cubic metre between 2013 and the first half of this year. Over the same period levels have also increased at Hope Street in the city centre, at Queensferry Road in Edinburgh and on two streets in Dundee.

There are another seven streets across Scotland where nitrogen dioxide pollution breaches the legal safety limit of 40 microgrammes per cubic metre. At two sites the concentrations have stayed the same, at four places they have dropped and at one site it’s unclear (see table below).

Nitrogen dioxide belched out by cars, lorries and buses irritates lungs and lowers resistance to respiratory infections, particularly amongst children. It causes particular problems for people with asthma.

‘Ridiculous’ ban on cycling in and out of Edinburgh station

from The Guardian, 10 July 2014

With Edinburgh about to enjoy its annual Festival invasion, you’d think that the city’s Waverley railway station would be keen to welcome all visitors. Not so, it seems.

The station’s operator, Network Rail, has introduced new access arrangements that have infuriated cyclists, come under sustained attack from politicians and earned it the label “Fortress Waverley”.

Cyclists used to be able to ride in and out of the station via one of two road ramps up to Waverley Bridge in the centre of the city. Now they are required to dismount, and push their bikes along narrow, enclosed footpaths thronged with hurrying pedestrians, roller-bags and buggies.

The result is congestion, conflict and reportedly angry outbursts, as too much foot traffic tries to navigate long and inescapable bottlenecks. Meanwhile, road ramps the other side of metal barriers remain eerily empty most of the time.

“The message from the station to visitors and to the general public is appalling,” said the local cycling campaign group, Spokes. “What other major European station would corral two-way walking – with bikes, prams, wheelchairs and luggage – into narrow passageways?”

Spokes has launched a campaign to improve access to Waverley for bikes. It has been backed by a cross-party group of MSPs at the Scottish Parliament, who have written to Network Rail demanding changes.

Revealed: the millions of metallic particles inhaled on the Glasgow subway

from Sunday Herald, 19 May 2013

Environmentalists are demanding urgent investigations into air pollution on the Glasgow subway after a snapshot survey by the Sunday Herald’s New Era magazine discovered that passengers were breathing in tens of millions of tiny metallic particles that might damage their health.

We found levels of pollution by microscopic particles on the subway - known in the city as the Clockwork Orange - up to ten times higher than on the streets outside and up to eight times above the World Health Organisation’s recommended daily limit.

Experts estimate that passengers on the subway for 45 minutes could each inhale at least 60 million particles. Anyone spending the same amount of time at one of Scotland’s busy railway stations could breath in 10 million particles, or 2.5 million on a train journey between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Because the particles in the electric-powered subway are likely to be mostly iron oxide from the grinding of wheels against rails, they may not be as dangerous as the sooty particles emitted by trains or cars driven by diesel engines. But experts and campaigners all agreed that the risks required serious examination.

Dr Richard Dixon, the director of Friends of the Earth Scotland described the concentrations of particle pollution on the subway as “alarming”. He called on Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), which runs the subway, to take the results very seriously.

“This problem urgently needs further investigation," he said. "Confirmation of these results would require decisive action to reduce pollution.”

Air pollution: the mass killer that keeps on killing

from Sunday Herald New Era magazine, 19 May 2013

It’s everywhere, and it kills thousands of people every year in Scotland. But despite more than a decade of efforts to reduce it, it seems worse than ever.

Air pollution is one of the plagues of the modern age. The fumes that spew from vehicle exhausts, the tiny particles disgorged by diesel engines and the dust and grime of urban living make life much less pleasant - and much more dangerous.

Yet over the last ten years governments, councils and regulatory agencies seem to have made little difference in reducing the toxins we breath in. On the streets of towns and cities across the country, on bikes and in cars, trains, buses and taxis, we are exposed to concentrations of pollutants that could damage our health.

Today New Era publishes the first ever maps showing the pollution street-by-street in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Perth (see below). Based on government monitoring for the toxic gas, nitrogen dioxide, these reveal the pollution hotspots that those with heart or lung conditions, or who are generally worried about their health, might want to avoid.

We also publish a map showing the 13 places with air pollution problems – or “air quality management areas” - identified by local authorities, along with the names of the most polluted streets. As well as the big cities, these include towns such as Dunfermline, Falkirk, Paisley and Bearsden (see below).

Action needed to get people out of their cars

Comment from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013 

Scottish ministers, like elected politicians the world over, have long been reluctant to introduce measures that would make motoring less attractive and more expensive.

But evidence of the multiple ways in which our addiction to private cars is harming us is growing, and is difficult to dispute.

As the Sunday Herald reveals today, cars and other motor vehicles produce noise and air pollution in our urban centres, threatening the health of millions of people.

According to scientists, they are also a leading cause of the global warming that is dangerously disrupting the climate here and abroad. Yet, in the Scottish Government's long-awaited plans to cut climate pollution published last week, transport is by far the weakest link.

Ending our love affair with the car to save humankind

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013

Scotland must end its love affair with the car. That is the blunt message from leading experts in the face of mounting evidence of the havoc wreaked on the climate and communities by the internal combustion engine.

The Sunday Herald reveals today that fumes from car exhausts are poisoning the air in cities and towns across the land, leading to thousands of premature deaths. The noise from vehicle engines is also blighting the lives of nearly a million people, while high speed limits are boosting pollution and accidents.

According to Professor James Curran, the chief executive of the government’s Scottish Environment Protection Agency, pollution from transport is also one of the major causes of climate change. “In my view this is the greatest threat faced by humankind so we’ve got to do something about it,” he said.

“If you do need to travel, try walking, cycling or public transport, all of which have lower emissions than cars. If you really have to drive, try car-sharing, choose the cleanest car you can, and drive it as economically as you can.”

He told the Sunday Herald that he was a realist. “I know that weaning people off their cars isn't easy,” he said. “But we must get serious about dealing with climate change, and meeting our national target of a 42% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.” 

Revealed: the 26 places in Scotland poisoned by air pollution

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013 

Fumes from vehicle exhausts breached air pollution safety limits at 26 urban sites across Scotland last year and put the health of millions of people at risk, according to government monitoring results.

There were toxic concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and tiny particles emitted by cars, lorries and buses in the streets of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Paisley, Bearsden, Rutherglen, Perth, Falkirk and several other towns in 2012 (see table below).

According to experts, the levels are high enough to cause breathing problems and heart attacks. Up to 3,000 people are officially estimated to die every year from air pollution in Scotland, compared to 190 deaths from road accidents.

The worst pollution was at Hope Street in the centre of Glasgow, raising doubts as to whether the city’s air will be safe to breath for the thousands of athletes and visitors expected to flock to the Commonwealth Games in the summer of 2014.

“Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to people's health,” said Dr Richard Dixon, the new director of Friends of the Earth Scotland. “Fumes from cars, lorries and buses kill off at least 10 times the number who die in road crashes every year.”

Move to cut the car noise that damages health

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013

Multinational car companies are facing new curbs to silence the excessive traffic noise that blights the lives of nearly a million people across Scotland.

The European Parliament is due to vote this week on legislative proposals to force manufacturers to introduce quieter engines and exhausts, amidst mounting evidence of the damaging impacts on public health.

MEPs are being urged by environmental campaigners in Scotland and Brussels to back the moves. But they are being fiercely opposed by car manufacturers, including the German sports car company, Porsche.

According to official figures, as many as 945,100 people in Scotland are exposed to daytime noise levels from traffic above 55 decibels. The World Health Organisation says that this will damage performance at work and school, disturb sleep and impair hearing and heart functions.

Tougher speed limits would cut climate pollution, says report

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013

Reducing vehicle speed limits to 40mph would cut climate-wrecking carbon emissions, according to a report from the government-funded Transport Research Laboratory.

It also says that such a move would cut injuries and deaths from traffic accidents, as well as noise and air pollution. And it warns that motorists often over-estimate the time that they will save by driving faster. 

The report was commissioned by the university-backed Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation for a seminar on speed limits and climate change taking place this week. Organised by the Scottish government’s high-ranking 2020 Climate Group, it is aimed at addressing one of the “more challenging” barriers to cutting climate pollution.

Big rise in cyclist and pedestrian injuries puts ministers under pressure

from Sunday Herald, 11 November 2012

The number of cyclists and pedestrians seriously injured on Scotland’s roads has risen sharply, putting ministers under mounting pressure to cut accident rates by investing in more safety measures.

The latest official figures from the government’s Transport Scotland agency reveal that there was a 13% jump in the number of cyclists suffering serious injuries in 2011, compared to 2010. There was a similar 12% increase in the number of seriously injured pedestrians.

This has prompted a barrage of angry demands from politicians, transport campaigners, cycling and walking groups for Scottish ministers to boost funding for cycleways and footpaths, better roads and tougher speed limits. Otherwise, they warn, more cyclists and pedestrians will be needlessly injured or killed.

The revelations come at the end of a week that saw two of the UK’s most famous cyclists knocked off their bikes. On Wednesday evening, Bradley Wiggins, the winner of the Tour De France and a four-time Olympic champion, was hit by a van near Wigan in Lancashire.

He spent a night in hospital, and was discharged with a bruised hand and ribs. Coincidentally, the head coach for Britain’s cycling team, Shane Sutton, was in a collision with a car in Manchester on Thursday morning, putting him in hospital with bleeding on the brain and a fractured cheekbone.

The two crashes highlighted the dangers that cyclists face, and led to multiple calls for better safety provisions in England. But the new figures unearthed by the Sunday Herald show that there are also escalating and alarming risks in Scotland.

Scotland failing to meet climate change targets

for Sunday Herald, 24 June 2012

Scotland is in danger of losing its much-lauded world-leading role in cutting climate pollution unless it takes urgent action to reduce carbon emissions from cars and homes, ministers have been warned.

With current policies, the Scottish government is on track to miss its historic climate change targets - agreed three years ago today - every year except one between 2010 and 2022. 

And according to a powerful coalition of more than 60 organisations, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS), this is because ministers are failing to do enough to curb vehicle exhaust fumes and to save energy in buildings by better insulation.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act was unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament on 24 June 2009. It committed the Scottish government to cutting the country’s greenhouse gas emissions 42% by 2020 and 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

But an analysis for SCCS shows that if the government continues on its current path, the only year in which it will not breach its carbon budget before 2022 is 2013. By 2022 emissions will be more than five million tonnes, or 13%, over the target.

A year without owning a car

comment from The Guardian, 22 September 2011

It started with a shake of the head, and that annoyingly knowing garage mechanic grin. “Well, sir,” he said, and began listing a baffling series of problems to do with tyres, brakes, springs, linings, discs and the exhaust catalyst.

My Saab 900 was in for its MOT, and had failed spectacularly. The minimum cost to make it roadworthy, the mechanic told me, would be £2,240 - though he would recommend additional repairs amounting to well over £3,000.

It was then I knew that my 11-year-old, 120,000-mile affair was over. The car that had played the soundtracks to my summer holidays, taken my Mum and Dad to the beach, and seen my girls become women, had to go.

I hadn’t meant to become emotionally attached to a large lump of polluting plastic, glass and metal, but it happened. So when the Saab was transported up the street on its way to the scrapyard, I felt an unexpected pang.

That was over a year ago now, and in recent days I’ve been assessing what we decided to do next. My partner and I thought we would try, for the first time in 25 years, to manage without owning a car. If it didn’t work, we said, we could always buy another one.

U-turn over A9 crossing after blockade threat

from Caledonian Mercury, 23 May 2011

Walkers, cyclists and horse-riders who threatened to blockade the A9 in the Cairngorms have forced a government U-turn after the personal intervention of the First Minister, Alex Salmond.

Transport Scotland has previously refused to provide access for a historic route across the newly dualled carriageway at Crubenmore, just south of Newtonmore. But now it is planning to construct an underpass.

The government agency’s change of heart follows an intervention by Salmond during the election. He told campaigners he shared their concerns and, if re-elected, would instruct officials to go-ahead with a crossing.

Transport Scotland said it was now determining the feasibility of building an underpass with a view to bringing forward the necessary road orders. “It is expected this work could be completed by mid-August,” said a spokeswoman for the agency.

It may take another two years, though, until the crossing is actually built. Officials met with representatives of walking and horse-riding groups on Friday to discuss what was required.

Angry access protestors ‘will block A9’

from Sunday Herald, 06 March 2011

Countryside campaigners angry at being barred from a historic route across the A9 in the Cairngorms are planning an escalating series of protests that will blockade the road and delay motorists.

Unless the government’s Transport Scotland digs a tunnel or builds a bridge at Crubenmore, just south of Newtonmore, it will have “blood on its hands” because people will be killed in accidents attempting to cross a new dual carriageway, they warn.

Walkers, cyclists and horse riders are demanding that politicians commit to constructing a crossing in the next few weeks. Otherwise, they say that on 20 April they will launch a summer of protest walks along the A9 that will cause lengthening delays to traffic.

“If our protests are unsuccessful, I am quite prepared to drive up and down the A9 roadworks all summer with my horse and carriage to show my contempt,” said Ruaridh Ormiston, who runs Newtonmore Riding Centre.

He is furious that dualling the A9 will prevent him from taking pony-trekkers along one of the old military roads built by General Wade to control the Jacobites in the early 1700s. The route is also popular with walkers, cyclists and local people.

Ministers lambasted for failing to cut government climate pollution

from Sunday Herald, 5 December 2010

Scottish ministers have been accused of “double standards” by their environmental advisers because they are busting targets to cut the climate pollution caused by government activities.

The accusation comes from the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), which is being closed down in March. Environmentalists allege that ministers are scrapping the agency in order to silence its embarrassing criticisms.

This week the SDC is publishing its latest assessment of the Scottish government’s environmental performance. It will conclude that overall the government’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions by cutting energy use and travel have been “poor”.

The use of energy in government buildings actually rose by 2.5% in 2008-09 and is now above the baseline level set a decade ago, the SDC report point outs. “It is therefore extremely hard to see how the government will meet its target of a 12.6% cut in emissions by 2011,” it says.

According to the report, seen by the Sunday Herald, there has been “little progress” on transport, with emissions “flatlining”. Although there has been a shift from air to rail travel by ministers and officials, 43% of travel emissions still came from flights.

Ministers backtrack to protect the car

21 November 2010

Controversial plans to cut speed limits, increase parking charges and bill drivers for using roads have been ditched by the Scottish government.

The proposals, contained in a previously leaked report, have been dropped in the latest version published by ministers last week. The U-turn has angered environmental groups, who warn that targets to cut climate pollution will be breached without moves to curb the car.

In the draft report on “proposals and policies” to combate climate change leaked in September, there were a series of ideas for discouraging car use. A cut in the speed limit on some roads from 70mph to 60mph was proposed.

So was a £300-a-year workplace parking levy, alongside a 50% increase in on-street parking charges. A road-pricing scheme that could have cost motorists an extra five pence per kilometre was also mooted.

The suggestions prompted howls of rage from businesses and the car lobby, and as a result they have all now been quietly dropped. They were omitted from a report published almost unnoticed along with the budget last week.

Political parties under powerful pressure to cut climate pollution

08 October 2010

All Scotland’s political parties are being urged to include a series of radical new promises to cut climate pollution in their manifestos for next year’s Holyrood elections.

The call comes from a powerful coalition of interests from across Scottish society representing as many as two million people. The coalition, which includes trade unionists, students, faith groups, aid charities, environmental organisations and campaign groups, has previously been influential in shaping Scotland’s policies to combat climate change.

The groups are calling for manifesto commitments to a £100 million-a-year home insulation programme, a £9 million-a-year increase in the international aid budget and an investment of up to £120 million to restore peat bogs. They also want reductions to speed limits and curbs on new road building.

The Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition brings together over 60 groups, including the trade union Unison, the National Union of Students, Oxfam and WWF Scotland. Its lobbying helped persuade the Scottish Parliament last year to introduce world-leading targets to reduce climate pollution.

Now the coalition is trying to ensure that in the run-up to the election next May, every political party makes the promises that will be needed to meet those targets. The aim is to cut greenhouse gas emissions 42% by 2020.