The Spanish Ombudsman is investigating the Tenerife municipalities of La Laguna, Granadilla de Abona and Arona, as well as Telde (Gran Canaria) and 29 other towns in the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, because despite being obliged by law, they delay the implementation of Low Emission Zones. These areas have been created to alleviate pollution caused by vehicle traffic and improve the quality of the air that their residents breathe. citizens. The constitutional legal figure initiates ex officio actions in these 33 municipalities of the country for not enabling these Low Emission Zones in a timely manner, required by the Climate Change and Energy Transition Law.
The institution, directed by Ángel Gabilondo, recalls that article 14 of the aforementioned standard establishes the specific measures and deadlines for the public administrations promote the improvement of air quality by reducing emissions into the atmosphere. In this way, municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants must have established ZBE before January 1, 2023.
Regarding the ex officio actions, opened by the Ombudsman, the Office of the body derived from the Swedish figure of the ombudsman points out that two criteria are followed in this ex officio action. On the one hand, depending on the number of people affected by the pollution and the level of delay in the processing, the municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants whose town councils have not yet started the procedures to declare the ZBE will be investigated, as well as those of more than 300,000 who have not yet approved them despite being in process.
steps back
The second assumption refers to those municipalities in which “the steps taken for the adoption of Low Emission Zones have been reversed or are expected to be reversed,” of which the institution “is aware through the media.” communication, based on the declarations made by the representative bodies of the municipality, those competent in environmental matters, political representatives or other analogues.
Unprocessed
18 municipalities have not yet started the processing of the ZBE. Among them are the three Tenerife residents, Arona, Granadilla de Abona and San Cristóbal de La Laguna, as well as Telde. For their part, they have begun the processing of the ZBE But seven town councils are late in their implementation, including Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Finally, eight city councils suspend or reverse what has been done so far, none in Canary Islands.
The law
The Climate Change and Energy Transition Law requires that all cities and municipalities in Spain that have more than 50,000 inhabitants – more than 50% of the population – must establish a Low Emissions Zone in 2023, although the reality is that only a minority has fulfilled it. Article 14.3 of the standard defines the ZBE as “an area delimited by a public administration, in the exercise of its powers, within its territory, on a continuous basis, and in which restrictions on access, circulation and parking of vehicles are applied to “improve air quality and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, in accordance with the classification of vehicles by their level of emissions in accordance with the provisions of the current General Regulations.”
The adaptation
After the Law, published in 2021, it remained to explain how municipalities should adapt the Low Emission Zones. To this end, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge published a document with the Guidelines for the Creation of ZBE, presented in November 2021. Subsequently, the Council of Ministers approved Royal Decree 1052/2022 on December 27, 2022. that regulates ZBEs. Nearly 150 municipalities spread throughout the Spanish territory have to adapt and have the Low Emissions Zone already created. Twelve cities, including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and A Coruña, have done their homework. The rest is already out of time.
The case of Santa Cruz
The Santa Cruz City Council plans to wait half a year from the implementation of the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE) in the city center to begin sanctioning non-compliance. During this period, and as reported by the capital City Council itself, only one notification will be issued to violators, with the aim of establishing an “adaptation period” to the new traffic restrictions in the capital. This was reported by the councilors of Mobility and the Central-Ifara District, Evelyn Alonso and Purificación Dávila, respectively, during the first phase of information and citizen participation on the ZBE, now concluded. In this phase, various associations were summoned, as well as merchants, neighbors and educational centers that are within the area of influence of the traffic restrictions that corresponds to the city center. The forecast is that the Low Emissions Zone will begin to be implemented in Santa Cruz during the first half of 2024, and with it, the first restrictions on the circulation of vehicles in the city center, thus complying with the Law that demands a guideline of Europe. According to municipal sources, a calendar for the implementation of the ZBE has been established, which will gradually regulate access over the next ten years. The indicators and their corresponding impact on the restrictions will be monitored in the years 2028 and 2033. | JDM
