Parents, teachers, and environmental health campaigners have hailed a ‘window of opportunity’ to cut toxic air pollution, after the Scottish Government announced that it would review recommendations to enforce Scotland’s ban on engine idling and consult on changes to increase fines for offenders in its new Programme for Government.
To mark Zero Emissions Day, campaigners rallied outside the Aberdeenshire constituency of Scotland’s Climate Minister Gillian Martin MSP, and urged her to adopt stronger measures to curb the practice. An accompanying letter, signed by environmental organisations, community groups, councillors, trade unions, and public health experts, renewed calls for the Scottish Government to increase fines, strengthen guidance on enforcement, and re-establish transparent reporting by local authorities.
The move comes after the environmental watchdog Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) published the results of its own investigation and subsequent improvement report, which backed campaigners’ calls for stronger enforcement of Scotland’s engine idling ban. ESS highlighted how the current fine of £20 is ‘disproportionately low compared to other offences,’ and recommended that the Scottish Government ‘review and increase the level of the FPN to ensure it provides an effective deterrent’. The Scottish Government is required by law to respond to their recommendations within six months.
Engine idling causes serious harm to people and the environment, with children, older people, and those with pre-existing health conditions such as asthma often the hardest hit. Recent studies have highlighted the transformative effects of reducing emissions from polluting vehicles, with a recent Lancet study highlighting how children’s lungs grew bigger and stronger after the introduction of London’s Low Emission Zone.
Shivali Fifield, Chief Officer at the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, said:
‘Engine idling is an invisible poison harming children outside school gates, hospital patients and shoppers on our high streets. This practice is illegal and yet a lack of enforcement has allowed drivers to pollute with impunity. The Scottish Government now has a window of opportunity to finally fix this harmful behaviour, and send a clear signal that everyone has the right to clean air’.
Mike Corbett, National Official at NASUWT: The Teachers’ Union said:
‘Air pollution due to engine idling is a major issue outside some schools. Children, older people, pregnant women and people with existing health conditions are particularly vulnerable when exposed to toxic exhaust fumes at idling hotspots such as schools and bus stops.
Research on air pollution points towards detrimental effects on growth, intelligence, development of the brain and coordination. The government must use this crucial window of opportunity to create more stringent enforcement measures and protect school staff, pupils and their communities.’
Cheryl Burnett, Chair of the National Parent Forum of Scotland, said:
’Leaving an engine running outside a school might seem harmless, but it exposes vulnerable lungs to dangerous pollution. Our children’s health and development must come first. Stopping engine idling is a quick, free change that makes an immediate, life-changing difference to the air our children breathe every single day.’
ENDS
For more information contact
Benji Brown, Policy & Advocacy Officer
Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland
bbrown@ercs.scot, 07856 407479
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) is an environmental law charity. We carry out advocacy in policy and law reform to improve environmental rights, and full compliance with the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice on environmental matters. www.ercs.scot
[2] NASUWT: The Teachers’ Union works to protect the status of the teaching profession and deliver real improvements to teachers’ and school leaders’ working lives. https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/
[3] The National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS) is a volunteer-led organisation that works to ensure that parents play a full and equal role in education. We were established in 2009 to give Parent Councils and parents an opportunity to discuss and raise educational issues of mutual interest or concerns at a national level. https://www.npfs.org.uk/
[4] For further information on engine idling, see ERCS’s briefing: https://www.ercs.scot/resources/the-non-enforcement-of-scotlands-engine-idling-ban-2/
