According to a recent report, South Lanarkshire’s environment is in an overall good condition.
The ‘South Lanarkshire’s State of the Environment Report 2021’ was discussed at the Executive Committee meeting on March 2, and it was revealed that a majority of key indicators are improving.
There are a total of 55 key indicators in the report which measure the area’s environment. The factors are then categorised as ‘good’, ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ – a majority of South Lanarkshire’s indicators were ‘good’.
Each of the categories in the report outlines the progress of the indicators, and they are split up into ‘improving’, ‘unchanged’ or deteriorating’.
A majority of the indicators in the report were measured as ‘good’ with 24 equating to 43.6 per cent.
A total of 12 of the indicators are improving – this includes an increase in life expectancy and the council’s renewable energy capacity, a decrease in vacant and derelict land and traffic congestion as well as a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Within the ‘good’ status, seven indicators were ‘unchanged’ from the previous years report, this includes the number of various historic and cultural assets and traffic growth.
Five of the indicators show a deteriorating trend. These include waste management, complaints related to noise and odour and the number of train passengers using railway stations in the area – these declines are being attributed to Covid-19 impacts.
A total of 23 indicators fell under the ‘fair’ category, representing 41.8 per cent, seven of these indicators have an ‘improving’ trend which covers improvements to woodlands, greenspace and recreational land and improvements to local air quality.
In the ‘fair’ category, 11 indicators have an ‘unchanged’ status, this is due to stabilised environmental issues such as energy consumption.
Five indicators have fallen into the ‘poor’ category; this includes a drop in bus usage, environmental deprivation and recreation and an increase in noise complaints.
Only eight of the 55 indicators have fallen into the ‘poor’ category, representing 14.6 per cent.
Three of the indicators which are ‘poor’ are ‘improving’, these include an increase in active travel, long range pollutants originating outside South Lanarkshire and flood risks.
Four of these indicators are ‘unchanged’, these relate to traffic emissions and the prevalence of early and premature death from coronary heart disease, cancer and stroke.
One indicator in the ‘poor’ category is representing a ‘deteriorating’ trend, this relates to the number of alcohol specific deaths which have significantly increased since the last iteration of the Report.
The report was published as ‘The Environment Assessment (Scotland) Act, 2005’ requires all councils to undertake Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA’s) of all plans, policies and programmes.
The report identifies a range of SEA environmental issues, including population and human health, biodiversity, fauna and flora, waste, soil, air, noise and light, water and climate change.
The trends identified across these issues allow the Council to examine the overall condition of South Lanarkshire’s environment.
The key indicators included also help to identify where there is an opportunity to improve environmental issues.
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