Edinburgh's Low Emission Zone: Dozens of applications for exemptions turned down by council

The LEZ, covering a 1.2 square mile area of the city, came into force on June 1, banning all vehicles which do not meet strict emission standards. It means most diesel cars and vans registered before September 2015 and most petrol cars and vans registered before January 2006 are excluded, along with HGVs, buses and coaches that fail to meet the Euro 6 standards.

There are national exemptions to the scheme - for emergency vehicles; vehicles for people with disabilities and historic vehicles, for example - and councils also have the power to grant local time-limited exemptions. But Edinburgh decided on a policy of no local exemptions unless in exceptional circumstances.

The LEZ in Edinburgh has been enforced from June 1 | Scott Louden

A report to next week’s transport and environment committee reveals there were a total of 64 applications for exemptions - 47 commercial, nine charity, four bus/coach, two taxi and two public sector.

But all but two were refused. The only ones granted were for a specialist vehicle used to move fragile artworks around the city and a “Unimog” vehicle which can run on road or rail and is used to clean the tracks for both trams and trains.

Te 62 bids for exemptions which were turned down included requests from rail companies Trans Pennine Express, LNER and Avanti West Coast for coaches used as replacement bus services when trains are cancelled.

Refusing an exemption, the council noted there were over 200 bus and coach operators in Scotland, many of which would have buses which met the LEZ requirements. It said there was “no justifiable reason to grant blanket local exemptions for the national rail operators when there is adequate choice of vehicles and operators to choose from in Scotland to provide LEZ compliant vehicles”.

The transport and environment committee will be asked to approve a temporary exemption until October 31 for taxis which are due to be retrofitted to make them compliant but which have been delayed because of a backlog of such work.

The council knows of around 60 taxis which do not meet LEZ emission standards, but there are currently no outstanding taxi applications for exemptions, suggesting many may have reached the end of their useful life or owners have decided to scrap them.

Taxis wishing to apply for the exemption are asked to apply not later than 5pm on August 29.

Figures published three weeks ago showed that a total of 6.030 fines were issued in the first month after the introduction of Edinburgh’s LEZ.

Operating and enforcing the LEZ is expected to cost around £300,000 a year, mainly for staff administering the scheme. The council says it is not known how much income the LEZ will generate, but any surplus after meeting the operating costs must be used in some way which “facilitates the scheme’s objectives”.

Transport and environment convener Scott Arthur said: “I think we're in a good place with this - we have an LEZ which is largely working well - I've had very  few direct complaints to me about this.”