Whether you own a car, regularly get a lift from friends or family, rely on the local bus service, or catch the CityLink out of the city, it’s clear that vehicles are an important part of all our lives.
At the same time, St John’s Road is regularly named one of the most polluted streets in Scotland. The annual average European legal limit for nitrogen dioxide, which is linked to asthma and other respiratory problems, is set at 40 microgrammes per cubic metre. St. John’s Road Edinburgh has seen that level rise to as much as 65 microgrammes.
Air pollution is a killer – recent research shows that 1 in 29 deaths in Edinburgh are caused by it. Poor air quality in our community disproportionately impacts the very young and old and those with pre-existing medical conditions and disabilities. Corstorphine needs this issue addressed as a public health priority.
Causes of air pollution
Air pollution is mostly caused by road traffic. In 2016, more than half of car trips made in Edinburgh were 5km or less, and 20% of all journeys were 1km or less. In 2018, 41% of Edinburgh’s population used a private car as their main form of transport, and single occupancy journeys accounted for 66% of journeys.
We believe that for many people, the majority of short distances can be easily managed by foot, bus and cycle.
What can be done?
Informed by feedback from Corstorphine residents gathered at a 2017 public event organised by Corstorphine Community Council, we have a number of longer term goals we want to achieve:
- Push for the proposed Low Emissions Zone to be extended to the boundary of the city, ensuring it includes Corstorphine.
- Take steps to reduce volume of traffic on St John’s Road and Drumbrae Roundabout via options such as promotion of park and ride on west of city (including restricting any multi-storey parking to already existing car parks)
- Making Edinburgh Gateway a bus/tram/train interchange
- More efficient usage or reduction of long-distance buses on St John’s Road (currently a large number of empty buses).
- Use filtered permeability to reduce traffic on side streets and encourage short local journeys to be made on foot or bike.
- Introduce a controlled parking zone (CPZ) across the whole area to discourage long term airport and commuter parking.
- Support a workplace parking levy
Short term, there are a number of things that we can all consider doing to try and reduce pollution in Corstorphine.
- Consider whether you can leave your car behind for your next short journey – would a short drive take ten minutes to walk or a few minutes to cycle?
- Think about taking the bus into town instead of the car (Covid-19 restrictions permitting).
- Car share with a friend, colleague or family member (Covid-19 restrictions permitting).
If you’re keen to support these aims, please consider taking a few simple steps.