I think it’s really important to bear in mind that we have still had a significant number of Euro 3 and 4 buses in the city – which we don’t want to retrofit. It will be scrutinised by committee next week, and commits to replacing our entire fleet with zero emission vehicles over the next ten years. We have a week of recess for half term, and I’m looking forward to a short break before I’m back in the office on Monday 21st October.Transport Secretary Michael Matheson joined Councillor Anna Richardson from The Retrofitting Fund provides grants to breathe new life into older taxis, vans and HGVs in order to comply with new standards to improve Air Quality. It was Full Council today which concludes another committee cycle.
Euro 6 vehicles are still relatively new so there aren’t perhaps as many on the second-hand market for example; it might not be as easy for certain households to upgrade their vehicles with short notice.I’m very conscious of the fact that evidence from this city has shown there are areas of transport poverty whereby families are forced into owning a vehicle because there is no other way for them to manage their lifestyle, to manage their employment, perhaps their childcare commitments.The last thing we want to do is to try to improve air quality for people and at the same time create a situation whereby they’re having to upgrade a vehicle that they can’t afford to do, so we really wanted to try and balance all of these different issues and find something that felt comfortable, that we feel we are going to make an improvement to air quality, but that also gives people time to adapt to that.It would be lovely to go to zero emissions tomorrow [for all vehicles], but the consequences for business and people in our city would have a disproportionately large negative impact and that’s something that we have to mitigate. Those listed below are already programmed, and will be undertaken soon. I was invited back to the 2050 Climate Group’s session on politics and climate for the second year running. Cllr Anna Richardson of Glasgow City Council spoke with Air Quality News about the LEZ, concerns over its speed of implementation and how the scheme fits into a wider move towards … We filmed the announcement to be shown on awards night, and they are sworn to secrecy about the winner until then! I took a trip out to Commonhead Moss to learn about peat bog restoration being done with the help of volunteers. This morning I attended the launch of two electric buses being added to the First Bus fleet, through Scottish Power Energy Networks funding. I was invited to visit the Pollokshields Community Fridge. I’m delighted that Glasgow Taxis are working hard to inform their drivers of what the LEZ will mean for their vehicles. Report by Councillor Anna Richardson, City Convener for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction . We have given over 100 trees and blueberry bushes to Glasgow schools this week.
Scottish Power Energy Networks invited me to join their panel discussion on how we can achieve net zero communities- this was a great opportunity to talk about heating homes, sustainable transport, air quality and much more, and to learn from the fantastic work being done by other panel members. And of course it was an absolute pleasure to launch our School Car Free Zone pilot this week, in time for the new school term. Seeing so many people who are demanding action only strengthens my resolve to ensure as a Council we do all we can. It is heartening to see the increased interest people are showing in climate change, and the desire to do more.