Valencia’s ZBE project leaves the Ciutat Vella residential priority area without fines for a year

The local government of Valencia, of PP and Vox, responded at the end of June to the environmental demands of the Spanish Government and the European Union with the design of a soft, minimum Low Emission Zone (ZBE), which will prohibit circulation in the capital only to vehicles considered by the DGT as the most polluting, those of classification A, and which will not be fully effective before four years. The draft ordinance is now being reviewed in detail by different municipal services – a necessary procedure before its approval – and they warn of some deficiencies: the draft cancels the sanctions of the APR (Residential Priority Area) of Ciutat Vella for a year if the text is not rectified, and does not specify or quantify the reduction of polluting emissions, the socialists denounce. “We are the European Green Capital and, instead of making an exemplary ZBE, which could be a reference for the rest of the cities, we are trying to cheat so as not to make a single real policy against climate change,” denounces the socialist spokesman in the City Council, Borja Sanjuán.

The Department of Mobility revealed at the end of June the content of the ordinance that is being studied: the ban on driving will affect cars, motorcycles and mopeds – not trucks – with an A label, that is, vehicles with a gasoline engine and 27 years old (as of 2028) or with a diesel engine and 22 years old, according to the draft ordinance approved by the two governing parties last Friday. Its application will be progressive: in 2025 there will be no sanctions and the ordinance will be applied only for information purposes; from 2026 those who carry the A label and are from outside the province of Valencia will not be able to enter Valencia or will be fined, in 2027 those who are from outside the city will not be able to do so, and only from 2028 will those registered in the municipality be prohibited from driving.

The draft of the ZBE Project, which accompanies the ordinance’s articles, which justify and support the municipal regulation and which the opposition does not know, is now being reviewed by the different municipal services for their observations. And the Climate Improvement Service warns, for example, that in some air quality measuring stations in Valencia, the estimated value after the implementation of the ZBE is maintained and even increases compared to the data for 2023, as is the case in Pista de Silla, Viveros and Bulevar Sur. In addition, they miss the Olivereta station. [que corresponde con una parte de la ciudad de tráfico intenso] when assessing the effect that the ZBE would have.

The objections continue in the point referring to quantifiable objectives to reduce pollution in the capital. The text states that the objective is to reduce the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), suspended particles smaller than 10 microns (PM10) and suspended particles smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) but the project does not specify or quantify the reduction of polluting emissions, according to the socialists. “It is considered that these objectives should be reflected in this section, both the partial objectives for the progressive phases of implementation of the ZBE and the objectives to be achieved in the so-called ZBE scenario,” points out the Climate Improvement Service.

The department warns of another point in the ZBE project when it specifies that the pollution measuring stations in Olivereta and Centro would be above what is established by the European directives. When talking about the 2030 scenario, the project says that the restriction on access, circulation and parking of vehicles with label A is considered sufficient without the need to extend the ban to other labels since, with these restrictions, the air quality thresholds of the new Directive would already be guaranteed; this aspect should be reviewed, the municipal service suggests.

The Municipal Central Sanctioning Procedure Service warns of another mismatch with the APR of Ciutat Vella. When the ordinance comes into force – as the project is currently drafted – the document that regulates the APR, already in operation, will cease to be valid. And the problem is that the future regulation will have an informative effect in its first year of application, 2025, so that those who access the APR will no longer be fined. APR. “If complaints for violations of the APR are to continue to be filed during the transitional period between the approval of the Low Emissions Ordinance and the end of the information period, it would be necessary to modify the Sole Repealing Provision,” the allegation states.

In view of the wording and the lack of information on the documentation accompanying the draft ordinance for the ZBE, the socialist councillor María Pérez asked and the written response from the governing team was cryptic: “The criteria and the estimated impact on pollution reduction on the basis of which the draft ordinance for the ZBE has been drafted are closely linked to the content of the project that has been sent for the report of the different services of the City Council”.

“The only thing that María José Catalá has done is propose a phantom Low Emission Zone. In other words, not propose anything and try to make people believe the opposite. We are the European Green Capital and, instead of creating an exemplary Low Emission Zone, which could be a reference for the rest of the cities, we are trying to cheat in order to not implement a single real policy against climate change. A situation that has now been highlighted by the municipal services themselves with the reports that discredit the phantom LEZ that the PP has announced with great fanfare as being based on objective data.”

“The reality is that Catalá is thinking of a city that is in the image and likeness of those people who live in urbanisations outside Valencia and want to get to the city centre by car at the expense of the residents. And we need a mayor who thinks that the residents come before the needs of all those who believe that the streets are only for cars.”