M74 'EXAMPLE OF INJUSTICE'
Poor are 'betrayed' By Ross McKiNNON__Glaswegian
THE city's M74 northern extension has been cited as an example that shows deprived areas suffer more environmental injustice.
Patrick Harvie, Glasgow's Green MSP, said developments like the M74 link showed the city council had "betrayed" poor communities.
This comes as new research established a link between environmental injustice and areas of poverty.
"The level of poverty in Glasgow has long been a national shame and we now have proof that people living in poor areas have to bear the burden of living in the worst environments," said Mr Harvie.
"The ruling Labour city council has betrayed Glasgow's poorest communities by doing little to tackle poor air quality and industrial pollution and instead allowing major road-building schemes, landfill sites and incinerators to be sited in the city's most deprived areas."
The new research comes from Scotland and Northern Ireland Research forum (SNIFFER) and featured industrial pollution, air quality, derelict land, river water quality, landfill sites, open-cast mines and quarries as well as greenspace and woodland.
Mr Harvie said the research was particularly worrying for Glasgow which more than three-quarters of Scotland's deprived areas.
He said: "The council's support for the plans to build a six-lane elevated motorway right through the heart of Glasgow's South Side demonstrate how little thought has been given to people living in some of the city's most disad-vantaged areas.
"This just would not be allowed to happen in more affluent areas.
"People living in Glasgow's poorest communities are expected to live alongside polluted industrial sites, landfills and even fully operational cattle incinerators.
"No wonder we have the lowest life expectancy in the UK.
"The research must act as a wake-up call to Glasgow City Council to stop putting the interests of big business before communities and the environment."
The M74 northern extension, estimated to cost around £500 million, is under judicial review as campaigners hope to overturn the Scottish Executive's decision to build the motorway.
A team from Staffordshire and Leeds Universities carried out the research, which can be viewed at www.sniffer.org.uk
Joint action against the m74 Jam74