Doctors are calling on the Scottish government to take forward a proposed schools monitoring pilot for air quality in urban areas amid concerns that pollution may be affecting their health.

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPEd) wants an air quality monitor pilot to be trialled across schools in Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Perth.

Developed and costed by RCPEd’s Working Group on Air Pollution and Health, the pilot proposal would see air quality monitors placed for a year across up to three schools and within 50 metres of those schools in each of the five Scottish cities.

The 15-school proposal has been formally submitted to the Scottish government following ‘positive discussions’ with government officials.

Members of the Working Group have highlighted the lack of data on air quality around schools despite the knowledge that air pollution can pose serious health risks to children.

Last year, research from the University of Edinburgh revealed that exposure to air pollution in early childhood can have lifelong effects on health, cognitive ability and even contribute to an early death.

Professor Jill Belch, co-lead of the Working Group on Air Pollution and Health, and Professor of Vascular Medicine at the University of Dundee, said:

“Science has provided robust evidence that children are significantly harmed by air pollution, with sometimes tragic results.

“Whilst lung disease in children is widely recognised as a result of breathing polluted air, less well known to the public, but equally important, are the effects of this pollution on the developing organs within a child.

“For example, exposure to polluted air in childhood has been shown to reduce brain cognitive function in a number of key ways. Further, and of concern, is that children appear to become unwell at lower levels of pollutants than do adults.”

The Scottish parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee has heard evidence from across stakeholders that a more ‘robust system of monitoring’ for air quality is required for hospitals and schools.

In its submission to the committee, RCPEd called for these monitors to be placed at all city primary schools in Scotland for at least a year.

The committee said it recognised the importance of improved monitoring for vulnerable groups like children and older people and asked that the government provide a written summary of its progress so far in monitoring near schools and hospitals.

Now, Professor Andrew Elder, President of the RCPEd and the other co-Lead of the Working Group on Air Pollution and Health, is urging the Scottish government to work constructively to improve monitoring.

Professor Elder said:

“There is overwhelming evidence that air pollution can have a wide range of detrimental health impacts on our children including problems with the lung, heart, brain and immune and hormonal systems.

“We also know that there is a correlation between areas of high deprivation and poor air quality, and this can exacerbate pre-existing health inequalities in children and young people.

“We are concerned at the lack of data on air quality around urban schools in Scotland – with the vast majority of urban air quality monitors currently sited too far away from schools – and believe we must collect as much accurate school level data as possible so we can have an evidence base for action.

“The College hopes that the Scottish government will consider our proposal positively and we remain committed to working constructively with it and all other stakeholders so that we can better understand the levels of air pollution around our schools and subsequently support implementing mitigation measures where these are required.”

As part of the working group’s preparation of the pilot proposal, clinicians plotted the distances between primary and secondary schools in these five city areas and existing air quality monitors.

The group found that from the 337 primary and 94 secondary schools examined, only one primary school was within 50 metres of a PM (particulate matter) monitor and only 2 primary schools were within 100m of a nitrogen dioxide monitor.

There were no secondary schools within 100m of either type of monitor.

Professor Belch says this means it is currently unclear how protected children are:

“At present the early work conducted by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh suggests that few school have air quality monitors nearby, so we do not actually know how well or otherwise, our children are protected.

“It is therefore imperative that we ensure air quality around schools is within regulatory levels, and the College’s proposal to the Scottish government can start this process.”

Mike Corbett, National Official for Scotland for the teachers’ union NASUWT added:

“Being able to quantify the scale of the problem around our schools is the first step to cleaning up the air we and our children breathe and moving towards a heathier and safer future. NASUWT is therefore very pleased to endorse and support this proposal for pilot air quality monitoring around schools.”

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