Edinburgh Low Emission Zone: £3,000 help for owners who scrap worst polluting vehicles

WIth less than three weeks to go until Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone comes into force, the Scottish Government has re-opened the support fund, handing out up to £3,000 to low-income families who scrap vehicles which do not meet the emission standards.

Households on a wide range of means-tested benefits are eligible for a £2,000 disposal grant and also for two people to receive £500 worth of “Travel Better” vouchers towards the purchase of a bike, an e-bike, shared transport credits or public transport passes.

Low Emission Zone signage on Canning Street in Edinburgh ahead of the launch on June 1. Picture: Scott Louden

The LEZ, which comes into force on June 1, will see vehicles which do not meet strict air quality standards banned from a 1.2 square mile area of the city centre. Flouting the ban will bring a £60 fine, which is halved if it is paid within 14 days, but a second offence within 90 days will see the fine double.

Similar help is available to smaller businesses which dispose of vehicles which are too polluting to qualify for the LEZ.

Some £2 million of the overall package will go towards the retrofitting of light goods vehicles, heavy goods vehicles and taxis through the LEZ retrofitting fund for micro-businesses.

Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "I’m pleased to open the Low Emission Zone Support Fund for its fifth round of support. LEZs are a vital public health measure and by providing financial assistance to people and businesses that need it most, we’re ensuring that the transition to wider LEZ enforcement happens in a fair way.

“Since 2019, the Scottish Government has provided over £13 million through the LEZ Support Fund. Over 4,000 non-compliant vehicles have been disposed of or retrofitted with cleaner technology. This number includes support for taxi drivers, with over 450 taxis being retrofitted with the help of grant funding since 2019.

“At the same time we are encouraging a shift towards sustainable transport options. I’m pleased that the fund has enabled the purchase of over 2000 bikes, e-bikes or cargo bikes for homes and businesses.”

Among those taking advantage of the support fund were Keith and Kaori, owners of Harajuku Kitchen Japanese restaurant in Edinburgh’s Bruntsfield area. They got a grant to dispose of their older, more polluting van and replaced it with a newer model.

Keith said: “We were aware of the LEZ coming into Edinburgh and I knew that the old van was needing replaced because it was old and polluting. We needed something better for the environment and more efficient to use for the weekly events and markets.

“We got the grant and got a van which is a much better and more efficient van than what we would have done without the grant funding. Our new van is great, it’s fulfilling its purpose and we’d like to go fully electric or hybrid in the future. The van is also much more fuel-efficient than the old van and we’re filling it up for about a third less than we were before.”

Kaori said: “We feel so much better now that our new van is cleaner and contributes to lowering emissions in the air. We always have the markets on the weekends. Usually, it’s the Sunday or Saturday market and for that, we also use the van to bring all our equipment and tables and gazebos to set up stalls for the markets.”

Vehicles banned from the zone are typically diesel cars registered before September 2015 and petrol cars registered before January 2006, as well as HGVs and buses that do not meet the Euro VI emission requirements. But motorists can check online whether or not their vehicle is affected.

Edinburgh transport convener Scott Arthur said: “Although we’re less than three weeks away from enforcement of the LEZ starting, I welcome this announcement. I’ve always felt perhaps more support could have been given to people on lower incomes and I still feel that’s the case.”