Council’s LEZ double standards - John McLellan

The low emission zone came into force in Edinburgh on June 1

That it’s costing £2000 a week to hire 41 replacement vehicles is bad enough, but it’s even more extraordinary when the authority has had well over two years to prepare.

Not only was there a two-year grace period from installation to fines being levied, but it was only because of a procedural blunder by ex-transport convener Lesley MacInnes that the scheme wasn’t voted through in October 2021.

In effect, the entire city is paying a weekly £2000 LEZ fine with no discount for quick payment because of this incompetence, and the excuse given by the now interim transport convener Scott Arthur, that rented vehicles are “specialist and more difficult to procure”, simply won’t wash.

Are we really expected to believe these vehicles are so special that it wasn’t possible to replace them for three years?

Schmucks like me dutifully traded in our old diesel VW at considerable expense, not thinking the council wouldn’t bother, but just expected the taxpayer to pick up the tab or for money to be diverted from other priorities to fund their lack of urgency.

This was a high-profile, punitive policy and we had every right to expect the council would set an example. We did not expect it to be one of flagrant disregard for sound management of public money.