City centre vehicles ban for all but the cleanest engines
Low-emission zone restrictions to start in December
Glasgow will ban all but the cleanest engine vehicles from the city centre in 2022 under plans going to councillors next week.
The clampdown would be part of Scotland’s first pollution-busting low emission zone (LEZ), which will start operating on 31 December.
Similar zones are due to be launched in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee by 2020.
Initially, one in five bus journeys in Glasgow city centre will have to be on vehicles with the cleanest diesel engines – Euro VI. This compares to around one in ten at present, with a phased approach until all buses meet the standard by December 2022.
However, no details of phasing for cars and other vehicles towards the 2022 deadline has yet been announced.
By then, diesel cars will need Euro 6 engines, which were introduced four years ago. Petrol cars will require Euro 4 engines, introduced in 2005.
Some buses – such as main operator First Glasgow’s– have their engine rating shown on a rear corner of the vehicle, which range from “3” to “6”, with six the least polluting.
Diesel fumes are harmful to health, with Hope Street, one of the city’s main bus corridors past Central Station, among Scotland’s most polluted.
Anna Richardson, city council convener for sustainability and carbon reduction, said that the zone was “capable of making significant reductions in levels of air pollution”.
She said: “While we continue to work with the bus industry to improve services – services which are vital to the lives of Glaswegians – it’s recognised the introduction of a LEZ needs to be proportionate and managed in such a way that ambition and practicality can be balanced.
“That is why the initial phase will address local buses.”
However, environmental campaigners accused the council of not acting fast enough.
Friends of the Earth Scotland air pollution campaigner Emilia Hanna said: “The people of Glasgow were promised a low-emission zone, but these proposals will create a ‘No Ambition Zone’ that does almost nothing to speed up air quality improvements so desperately needed in the city.
“The proposals condemn Glasgow to illegal air for years to come.
“Councillors must recommend these proposals be significantly improved when they discuss them or they will have failed the people of Glasgow,” she added.