Omar Ali: Can ambitious net-zero plans make Glasgow miles better by 2030?

Omar Ali

‘People Make Glasgow” is the new brand for Scotland’s largest city and what is affecting the people in Glasgow and all over the world is a climate crisis.

In response to the global climate emergency, the Scottish government brought forward primary legislation to amend Scotland’s emissions reduction targets to reach net-zero emissions by 2045.

Glasgow declared a climate emergency in 2019 and the Council’s climate emergency working group made over 60 recommendations as to how Glasgow, which is due to host the global climate change summit COP26 in November 2021, could reduce carbon emissions and realise its ambition of becoming a net-zero city by 2030. This article looks at some of the key recommendations.

Avenues Project

The Council has set aside £115 million into its ‘Avenues’ programme, which aims to make the city more attractive, people-friendly and better for local business. The funding has come from the £1 billion Glasgow City Region City Deal comprising grant funding from the UK and Scottish governments.

The Avenues programme is set to transform 17 key streets and adjacent areas over the coming years in the biggest scheme of its kind in the UK. The project will deliver an integrated network of continuous pedestrian and cycle routes across the city centre. Space will be increased on the pavements and free Wi-Fi, intelligent street lighting, trees and cycle lanes will be installed over the next eight years.

A consultation that the Council carried out (prior to the Covid-19 pandemic) found that city centre residents wanted more green areas, less traffic, and a permanent public space.

A pilot project was commissioned on Sauchiehall Street (between Charing Cross and Rose Street). Construction Work started in 2018 and has taken two years to complete and cost £7.2m. Key features include enhanced and widened pavements, (two-way) cycle paths, junction upgrades, 27 new trees, new bus shelters, cycle stands, and seating.

The pandemic has highlighted the value of quality green public space and the health benefits of walking and cycling in the fresh air and the Avenues Project aims to encourage more active travel choices in the city centre.

Low Emissions Zone

As air quality becomes an increasingly political issue, measures are being put in place to discourage more polluting vehicles from entering areas where air quality is poor. Low Emission Zones (LEZ) have been identified by the UK government (as part of its air quality plan) as a way that local authorities can reduce harmful emissions in specific areas.

The most polluted street in Scotland for the last four years has been Hope Street in Glasgow city centre, which in 2019 had over 55.63 microgrammes per cubic metre of roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations (a pollutant from diesel vehicles, especially older diesel vehicles), which is well above the legal limit of 40 microgrammes per cubic metre set by the European Ambient Air Quality Directive. In 2020 Hope Street was below the legal limit at 36 microgrammes per cubic metre, but that was largely driven by the first lockdown in March, which like many cities across the UK, removed a large number of vehicles from the city centre.

Scotland’s first (and currently only) LEZ came into effect in Glasgow city centre at the end of 2018 and applies only to local bus services under Phase 1. The Council want to introduce a second phase in early 2023 which will apply to all vehicles except motorcycles, mopeds, motorised tricycles and quadricycles. The proposed emission standards are:

• Euro 4 standard for petrol vehicles (generally vehicles registered from 2006 onwards)
• Euro 6 standard for diesel vehicles (generally vehicles registered from 2015 onwards)
• Euro VI standard for heavy duty diesel vehicles such as buses / coaches and HGVs (generally vehicles registered from 2015 onwards)

It will not come as a surprise to see that only fairly new diesel vehicles will be able to meet the proposed emission standards and LEZ’s are based on a penalty notice approach to effectively ban non-compliant vehicles, so it does not forbid higher-emission vehicles from entering, but you will receive a penalty notice if your vehicle does not comply.

It is hoped that this will significantly reduce the number of older diesel vehicles entering the city centre and encourage drivers switch to either lower emitting vehicles that can comply with the LEZ emission standard or to use more public transport and active travel when entering the city centre.

Read the rest of the article on the SLN website