The ASanta Cruz town hallthrough the Mobility area, under the responsibility of Evelyn Alonso, and with the participation of the councilor of the Centro-Ifara district, Purificación Dávila, concluded yesterday the first phase of information and participation on the Low Emissions Zonea guideline that Europe requires from cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, where various associations, merchants, neighbors and schools that are within the area of influence of traffic restrictions were summoned for the application of this rule that foresees that incorporating progressively in the coming years.
Starting from a first general call, where attendees were informed of the advantages that this instrument for reducing air pollution incorporates, thus improving the health and quality of life of residents, “workshops have been developed to collect suggestions from sectors that are in this area of influence and that will be collected in a report to be evaluated by the technicians,” Alonso announces, and advances that “now specific professional, neighborhood, cultural, etc. associations will be convened, with the idea of draw more elaborate and specific conclusions.”
For regulation in the ZBE, there was talk of an implementation calendar that will gradually regulate access over the next 10 years, and although the restrictions begin in 2024, an adaptation period of 6 months is stipulated, where there will be control of access without financial penalty, only notification will be given to violators. And subsequently, the indicators and their corresponding impact on the restrictions will be monitored in the years 2028 and 2033.
As for the exceptions, access is allowed, depending on the activity to be provided within the delimited area and its environmental distinctiveness, to basic public services such as cleaning, waste removal, green areas, etc.; emergencies on public roads regarding the supply of water, gas, electricity or telecommunications; public transportation for general use and those that serve establishments within the ZBE; passenger cars that indicate the companies and self-employed persons whose activity is carried out in a premises located inside the ZBE, and those that provide services or deliver or collect supplies in the delimited area.
In addition, also the vehicles indicated by the owners of private garage spaces; those who access the vehicle repair workshops located there; those destined for on-call pharmacies; those intended for events on public roads, and vehicles with category B and C environmental classification, which may access the ZBE only to park in a parking lot for public or private use.
