Getting people's views
Nationally, there is strong support for Low Emission Zones (LEZ). Transport Scotland asked people for their views - they showed that 96% of people who replied supported the principle of LEZs to help protect public health by improving air quality in Scotland. In 2018, 75% of people consulted in Edinburgh noted that restricting access to the most polluting vehicles with LEZs could improve air quality.
In summer 2019, we asked people and businesses what they thought of options for LEZ in Edinburgh. We wanted to understand their views and identify the impacts of different vehicles, grace periods and boundaries. Read more about the responses to this consultation.
We then looked at and assessed how three different LEZ options would work for the city. Read more about this options appraisal.
From this, we developed our preferred LEZ scheme. This was based on previous consultation and scientific air quality modelling that indicated a larger city centre boundary option including all vehicles would be most effective at reducing harmful emissions across the city. This option was taken to statutory consultation during summer 2021. Read more about the responses to this consulation.
Results from the 2021 consultation indicated that statutory consultees generally supported the
- larger city centre boundary (option 1), including neighbouring local authorities and members of transport and logistic organisations
- two-year grace period for residents and non-residents, including representatives of the bus and coach sector and members of transport and logistic organisations.
We received 26 objections during the statutory notice period. We responded to each of the objections as presented in the objections report and summarised in the final submission.
