Publication - FOI/EIR release

Information relating to Low Emissions Zones scheme: FOI release

Published: 15 March 2023
Part of: Public sector, Transport
FOI reference: FOI/202300339535
Date received: 23 January 2023
Date responded: 20 February 2023

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Information requested

1. How much has the low emission zones initiative cost Transport Scotland so far since the scheme was announced? Breakdown by year and breakdown of what the money has been spent on?

2. How much has it been estimated that the low emission zones project will cost Transport Scotland in the future/how much has been budgeted for it?

3. All correspondence (including emails) from the last six months from members of the public to Transport Scotland about the low emission zones. If too much, narrow down to three months.

4. Has Transport Scotland heard of any plans from other regions/towns/cities to roll out the low emission zones except from the ones already announced?

Response

The answer to your questions are as follows:

Question 1

Transport Scotland’s spend on LEZs since 2017 until the last full financial year that figures are available for (2021/22) includes the following:

Consultancy support to model, research and develop the case for LEZs.
Communications support including bought advertising to promote LEZs.
Grant funding provided to local authorities to support the development, introduction and enforcement of LEZs including associated public and sustainable transport measures. [Note that capital grants for LEZ enforcement infrastructure have been provided in advance and therefore may not yet be fully spent by the local authority due to commencement of enforcement timings.]
Grant funding to Regional Transport Authorities for public and sustainable transport measures to support the LEZ delivery.
Costs for installing LEZ signage and markings on trunk roads.
BEAR (Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit) provides grants to support bus and coach operators upgrade their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.
LEZ Support Fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.

2017/18	Spend
Consultancy Support	£89,321
Bus Emission Abatement Retrofit Fund (BEAR)*	£879,694
2018/19
Communications	£71,405
Consultancy Support	£33,343
Bus Emission Abatement Retrofit Fund (BEAR)*	£1,577,701
2019/20
Communications	£142,387
Consultancy Support	£6,278
Local Authority Grants	£4,457,118
RTP Grants	£249,512
LEZ Support Fund*	£230,000
2020/21
Communications	£221,022
Consultancy Support	£330,138
Local Authority Grants	£2,205,879
Bus Emission Abatement Retrofit Fund (BEAR)*	£9,826,000
LEZ Support Fund*	£1,759,738
2021/22
Communications	£368,001
Consultancy Support	£9,019
Local Authority Grants	£3,442,708
Signage	£81,345
Bus Emission Abatement Retrofit Fund (BEAR)*	£6,200,000
LEZ Support Fund*	£3,706,925

*these figures show total amounts for grant offers made.

Question 2

While the local authorities have reported outline estimates for their ongoing LEZ running costs these are at different stages of procurement for each city. Currently city estimates range from £180,000 (not including staffing) to £400,000 (including staffing). It is not known at this time how much of the running costs may be offset by penalty charge notices issued by the local authorities. This should become clearer when enforcement starts in Glasgow. Further analysis will be undertaken in due course to determine the level of ongoing funding needed for the LEZs.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Question 3

I attach a copy of most of the information requested in the attached PDF. However, an exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names, contact details, vehicle registration details etc, as disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Please note that the redacted text (in black) within this correspondence indicates the removal of identifiable third-party data. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

Question 4

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The introduction of new Low Emission Zones is for individual local authorities to consider. At the time of this request, no application has been submitted to Transport Scotland.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.