Pupils at St Brendan’s and Muirhouse primary schools in Motherwell have been taking direct action to reduce pollution on the roads around their school.

They ran a high-profile morning protest last month to launch a campaign to ask drivers to switch off their engines when parked. They have also held joint assemblies to discuss the issue and designed posters to raise awareness with local drivers.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) installed clean air monitors on the road linking the two schools to assess air quality in the area.

Officers from the council and SEPA returned to the schools on Clean Air Day to provide the findings from the monitors, which revealed elevated levels of air pollution in the area, particularly at drop off and pick up times. 

The information gathered will support the schools’ anti-idling campaign.

“Air pollution is recognised by the UK government and World Health Organisation as the biggest environmental threat to our health, with children particularly at risk due to their developing lungs, brains and immune systems,” Fiona Maguire, Senior Environmental Health Officer explains.

“The pupils at St Brendan’s and Muirhouse primaries have been learning about the importance of air quality and the impact on their health from traffic around their schools.

“They will now be using the data from the clean air monitors to inform their campaign and encourage drivers to park further away and walk to and from school at drop off and pick up times, and not to let engines idle when they’re parked. Well done to all the pupils involved in this project.”

Coordinated by Global Action Plan, Clean Air Day brings together communities, businesses, education and the health sector, improving public understanding of air pollution, building awareness of how air pollution affects our health and explaining some of the easy things everyone can all do to tackle air pollution, helping to protect our health and the environment.

This year’s campaign is focused on promoting greener travel to reduce localised air pollution and ensure people have the option to travel in ways that are better for our health and the planet.

Through our Air Quality Action Plan, we are working to improve air quality for residents in a number of ways including creating active travel routes to allow more people to walk, wheel and cycle for work and leisure, decarbonising its vehicle fleet and increasing electric vehicle charging facilities.

Find out what you can do to help improve air quality at www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/pests-and-pollution/pollution/air-quality/choose-clean-air-0