Trams 'may worsen air quality in Capital'

Published on Wednesday 13 July 2011 17:44

THE Capital's tram project could worsen air pollution in some areas of the city by encouraging lorries and trucks on to Edinburgh's roads, a senior council official has admitted.

Robbie Beattie, the council's scientific and environmental services manager, said the expected reduction in general traffic could have the knock-on effect of making the city more attractive to hauliers.

His comments are likely to be seized upon by residents in some areas of the city, who have argued the trams will worsen air pollution by moving traffic away from the Capital's main arterial routes and onto residential streets.

Mr Beattie said the council was working with hauliers in an attempt to reduce emissions in order to avoid massive EU fines, which are expected to be levied at local authorities across the UK in the coming years.

However, he ruled out the introduction of Low Emission Zones, such as those introduced in London earlier this year, saying the council was more interested in "carrot than stick."

Mr Beattie said the introduction of the trams would have a positive impact on air pollution in some areas of the city, including Air Quality Management Areas, such as St John's Road, where emission levels are known to be high.

But he said other parts of the Capital could see an increase in heavy goods vehicles. He said: "We're likely to see a downward trend on St John's Road and the Roseburn corridor. But 10 per cent of the traffic (haulage vehicles] is responsible for 50 per cent of the pollution in the air. The trams might make a bit more room for them.

"Not all the traffic using the city is for the city. We need to try and encourage them to use the bypass rather than going through the town."

An appraisal carried out in 2006 as part of the final business case for the tram project had shown the trams would lead to poorer air quality for 82,970 people.

However, the tram firm said the same study found 83,748 residents would have better air quality and a further 217,968 would see no change, despite predicted growth in overall traffic.

Mr Beattie said discussions were under way with hauliers in an attempt to reduce the level of pollution associated with goods vehicles in the city.

He said: "We're contacting people like the Road Haulage Association (RHA) about various different types of vehicles and whether they can use greener vehicles.

"We're trying to be proactive. In the background, there's the threat (of fines] but national government is dealing with that. The Low Emission Zones is something we can look at if the current scheme doesn't work, but the first thing is to go into dialogue with people."

Phil Flanders, a spokesman for the RHA, said he was looking forward to talks with the council but disputed figures about lorries accounting for half of all emissions. He said: "How many lorries do you see on Princes Street every day and how many buses do you see? I would like to see more of these figures because it's easy just to blame trucks."

PR FIRM EARNED 90k IN 6 MONTHS

THE outgoing head of PR for the trams has said her firm made 90,000 in six months from the project before she was handed a full-time role.

Last week it emerged tram firm TIE had spent 900,000 on PR consultants in the last three years.

Mandy Haeburn-Little said her own company, MHL Corporate, was paid 90,000 before she took over the director of communications role reported to be worth between 120,000 and 139,000 a year.

Speaking to industry magazine The Drum, Ms Haeburn-Little said: "When I first began on the project this was as a consultant and the fee quoted covered a six-month period and was for five team members."

Last month it was announced the PR chief, who claimed to have "lived and breathed trams for two years," was to leave.

Deputy council leader Steve Cardownie said her job had been "akin to trying to rehabilitate a pantomime villain".

Figures obtained by the Evening News last week showed TIE had paid for the services of five PR firms in the past three years.