LEZ Fight Back Fund

By-election statement from the Glasgow LEZ Fightback team

The humiliating result for Humza Yousaf at the Rutherglen by-election should send a very clear message to the SNP-Green administration at Glasgow City Council.

The raft of anti-motorist policies including LEZ, congestion zone charges and parking permit increases for owners of older vehicles allied extreme Holyrood policies on a whole raft of issues proves that Glasgow councillors are tone deaf to the everyday needs of their constituents and businesses.

On the LEZ issue, which will come to court soon, it is bad enough that the council and their Green zealots are pursuing very unpopular ideological policies but to compound this they insist on producing data that is clearly untrue and has been totally discredited by international experts and former employees of SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency).

Go Radio with William Paton

We're being warned Glasgow's Low Emissions Zone is "terrible for the environment".

It's emerged pollution at Glasgow Central Station is actually up 12% since the LEZ was rolled out.

William Paton is director of a repair centre in Townhead - he's challenging the scheme in court. pic.twitter.com/EFnIyJTqmq
— Go Radio (@thisisgoradio) September 6, 2023

Glasgow’s businesses are leading a backlash against the city's hugely detrimental and redundant Low Emission Zone (LEZ).

The scheme, which bans non-compliant older petrol and diesel cars from entering the city, is being enforced by Glasgow City Council despite data showing Glasgow’s emissions already meet the objectives set out by Air Quality Scotland.

GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL GOES INTO THE MOTOR TRADE

(that’s not the only thing they have in common with Arthur Daley)

An independent air quality review found that buses had been the biggest contributor to emissions, but since 2022 Glasgow’s entire bus fleet has been compliant. The data that the council are relying on to proceed with Phase 2 is over half a decade out of date.

Now that we know that the health benefits gained by low emissions have been achieved and surpassed, this scheme stands to do nothing but detriment the people of Glasgow and those wishing to visit it.

Many businesses and people across the city are suffering.

Glasgow City Council's own Impact assessments show that Phase 2 will:

Disproportionately affect those on lower incomes
Disproportionately affect those with special care needs
Disproportionately affect those with disabilities
Disproportionately affect the elderly
Fuel the poverty-related attainment gap
Fuel inequality in general
Isolate communities within the LEZ
Have huge economic impacts on businesses operating within and outside the LEZ
Disrupt supply chain

We have already achieved the clean air that everyone needs to live a healthy life, so why is council actively punishing the people of Glasgow for something we no longer need? There is zero benefit.

Prior to enforcement we made multiple attempts to engage with Glasgow City Council. Unfortunately, they refused to engage.

William Paton, who runs a 60-year-old local business Patons Accident Repair Centre in Glasgow's Townhead, is leading the campaign. He has been given the green light by Lady Poole to start a legal challenge against the scheme. A procedural hearing has been scheduled for 8 September and a judicial review is set to take place on 17 October.

We need all the help we can get. All donations will go towards getting the best possible legal minds to prepare the case. Any surplus funds will be donated to the charities that have been disproportionately affected by the scheme.

Similar schemes are being pushed with incorrect data in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee. Should we be successful, it could have ramifications across the country.