Glasgow's Low Emission Zone comes into force today as councillors and ministers insist it will ensure more breathable air for Scotland's largest city.
A last-ditch bid to force a judicial review into the policy was thrown out on Wednesday, ensuring that the LEZ would go ahead as planned.
From today (1 June) all vehicles entering Glasgow’s LEZ must meet the less-polluting emission standards or face a penalty charge.
The scheme is the first of its kind in Scotland, and follows an initial bus-only phase which began in 2018.
Cllr Angus Millar, Convener for Climate and Transport said: “I am proud that Glasgow has fully rolled out the first of Scotland’s Low Emission Zones, joining hundreds of cities across Europe who have introduced similar initiatives in ensuring cleaner, more breathable air.
“Glasgow has made great strides in tackling air pollution in recent years, thanks in no small part to the success of the first phase of our LEZ, which has led to all buses running through our city centre meeting the less-polluting emission standards. But we still have stubbornly high air pollution levels in the city centre, which have been in breach of legal limits for decades now, and that poor air quality is actively harming Glaswegians’ health; creating and exacerbating people’s health conditions and the city's health inequalities, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable.
Read More: Glasgow low emission zone green light as court challenge fails
"While the vast majority - up to 90% - of vehicles currently entering the city centre will be unaffected, the LEZ standards will address the small minority of vehicles which pollute the most, disproportionately creating the harmful concentrations of air pollution. And by ensuring cleaner air, we can create a safer and more pleasant experience for everyone who lives, works and visits Glasgow city centre.”
Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition Màiri McAllan said: “I’m pleased to welcome the wider enforcement of Scotland’s first Low Emission Zone in Glasgow. Air pollution from vehicles disproportionally impacts the most vulnerable in our society. It causes the most damage to the youngest, the oldest and people with pre-existing medical conditions. LEZs are an important tool in protecting public health and improving air quality – while at the same time protecting our environment by reducing harmful emissions and encouraging a shift to more sustainable transport.
“With the LEZ enforcing buses since 2018, Glasgow has already seen improved air quality. I look forward to welcoming further improvements in air quality through this wider enforcement – with Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh following next year.”
Gareth Brown, Chair of Healthy Air Scotland and Policy and Public Affairs Officer, Asthma + Lung UK Scotland added: “With 1 in 5 Scots developing a lung condition like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in their lifetime, for them, air pollution can trigger life-threatening asthma attacks and flare-ups.
“Air pollution in Glasgow is shockingly 4.5x World Health Organisation (WHO) levels, so it is clear that we need to make tackling air pollution a national priority with Low Emission Zones just the start.
“Our cities must be redesigned to be far healthier places, where people can walk and cycle and not forced to breathe in toxic levels of air.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel