‘Open Street’ movement in Edinburgh to reduce emissions

EDINBURGH: The Scottish city of Edinburgh plans to introduce some radical new reforms in a bid to reduce the air pollution levels of the city. Although the city does not mark exceptionally high in pollution index, the city council still intends to move forward with their plans to minimize the existing pollution.

The roads in the city’s center were closed to traffic for the first time on May 5, 2019, Sunday, making Edinburgh the first British city to join the ‘Open Street’ movement. Under the Open Street movement,the streets were open to various exhibitions and engaging public activities like open-air yoga, giant chess game, music, and tai chi.The initiative taken by the council sees the closing of roads for the first Sunday of each month for a trial period of 18 months. Lesley Macinnes, City Councilor of Edinburgh said,“We’ve seen how successful similar schemes internationally have proved by encouraging active travel, improving air quality and creating a safer, more relaxed atmosphere so I can’t wait to see this take shape in the capital.”Edinburgh’s cycle hire scheme will also be free all week to encourage people to ditch their vehicles.

Strict pollution limits for vehicles were introduced by the city council. Also, the council plans to extend the Capital’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) to the entire city. These zones are where only the cleanest, low pollution emitting cars are allowed. Only diesel vehicles with Euro 6 engines, which were introduced five years ago, and petrol cars with Euro 4 engines, introduced in 2005 are allowed in the zone and the restrictions would apply to private cars along with buses, lorries and other vehicles. According to a survey, this would effectively render 50 per cent of the city’s vehicles out of use.

The councilor ensured that the new reforms will be introduced after consultations and public feedback would also be taken into consideration. “We know this is going to ask for a lot of change from people, but let’s look at the benefits. The minute you link it to health outcomes, people realize the benefits. It will result in a better quality of life for the city. A healthier city with less traffic,” stated Lesley Macinnes.“We know there are certain areas of the city which have suffered from air quality issues for some time but we are working towards a wider solution to benefit everyone and not simply displace those issues into other parts of the city,” he added.