Plans to implement low emission zones across Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Aberdeen and Dundee have been paused temporarily in response to
the COVID-19 outbreak.
The decision has been taken by the Low Emission Zone Leadership
Group, which includes Transport Secretary , Climate Change Secretary
and representatives
from the four local authorities, Public Health Scotland &
SEPA.
It will provide an opportunity to consider the kind of transport
systems we want to see return to our cities after COVID-19.
Low Emission Zones were expected to be implemented across
Scotland’s four cities later this year.
Transport Secretary said:
“The Scottish Government is fully committed to tackling air
pollution in the quickest time possible. The unprecedented impact
of the COVID–19 outbreak has resulted in necessary changes to
priorities across government and across our local authority
partners. Similar to other initiatives across public sector, we
have come to the view that introducing low emission zones across
our four biggest cities by the end of 2020 is no longer
practicable.
“We remain dedicated to introducing Low Emission Zones across
Scotland’s four biggest cities to improve air quality and protect
public health. Local authorities share this ambition and
Scotland’s first LEZ in Glasgow has been in place since 2018. LEZ
planning within local authorities will continue, the development
of regulations is ongoing and funding to support businesses and
individuals prepare for LEZs remains unchanged.
“Given the recent uptake in active travel and air quality levels
we are going to take the opportunity to review how Low Emission
Zones can be designed and how our cities might witness a green
recovery transformation in tandem with the COVID-19 recovery
plans. We must be bold in our actions to reset the system to meet
our climate change ambitions, reduce inequalities, improve our
health and wellbeing and deliver sustainable economic growth.”
Notes to editors
The LEZ Leadership Group’s members include Transport Secretary
, Climate Change
Secretary and representatives
from the four local authorities, Public Health Scotland &
SEPA.
Reviews will be undertaken across 2020 and 2021 to determine
the earliest date when LEZs could realistically be introduced
using the powers of the Transport (Scotland) Act. Whilst the
introduction date for LEZ grace periods to begin is postponed,
LEZ enforcement across various vehicle types is still on track
to come into play in the early 2020’s.
Local authorities can choose to implement grace periods of
between 1 and 4 years from the point of introduction, and so,
enforcement of private vehicles was always going to be between
the period of 2021 and the end of 2023. The movement of formal
introduction does not impact local decisions around
implementation and grace periods which may be between 1 and 4
years as decided by the local authority.
