A councillor is calling on Dundee City Council to double its efforts in challenging harmful air pollution.
Richard McCready’s warning comes after a report on the issue suggested air pollution could be linked to 40,000 deaths in the UK each year.
The report, published by the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, indicates that low air quality may play a part in tens of thousands of deaths across the country.
Commenting on the findings, Mr McCready, Labour’s environment spokesman, called on the administration to be proactive and take steps to improve Dundee’s own air quality standards.
He said: “I have been calling for Dundee City Council to take air quality more seriously for some time now.
“I think that it is unacceptable that the same streets in Dundee are named as air pollution hotspots year after year.
“Reports from Friends of the Earth and the British Heart Foundation have pointed to the health impact of poor air quality and now this report from the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Paediatrics and Child Health makes very similar claims.
“I will be speaking to officers of the council to see how best we can bring together the relevant people to ensure that we are taking the appropriate action.
“According to this recent research the impact of poor air quality is totally unacceptable and we must do something about it rather than dismissing the research and hoping that the problem will go away.”
A council spokesman said: “While air quality is influenced by numerous factors that are not directly in the control of the local authority, a report will be considered by the council soon on a detailed transportation and air quality study for the Seagate and north-west arterial route to try to further improve the situation.”