The mayors of the cities of the second metropolitan crown of Barcelona, ??grouped in the association Arc Metropolità, have transferred to the Department of Climate Action their discrepancies on the decree of low emission zones (ZBE) and demand its withdrawal.
Nine metropolitan cities, Granollers, Martorell, Mataró, Mollet del Vallès, Rubí, Sabadell, Terrassa, Vilafranca del Penedès and Vilanova i la Geltrú, in a meeting held with the director general of Climate Change and Environmental Quality, Mireia Boya, showed their disagreement with the draft decree of the air quality plan and raised the need to negotiate the implementation of ZBEs with the municipalities of the metropolitan area.
The nine mayors criticize that the Generalitat has not taken into account the consensual model that they developed from Arc Metropolità maintaining a social and territorial vision, as they presented to the previous minister, Teresa Jordà. On the other hand, the decree that is already in the objections phase modifies the work done by the councils and “does not take into account the social, economic and transport reality” of the region.
The councilors are opposed to the decree because it generates “a clear invasion of municipal powers” and does not respect the specificity of the municipalities of the second metropolitan crown, affected by the large high-capacity communication routes that cross the territory, nor the deficit of public transport that the municipalities suffer from and that “the Generalitat has not been able to solve during the last decade”.
From Arc Metropolità they state that, according to data from the General Directorate of Traffic, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Terrassa, Granollers, Mataró and Sabadell, would be the cities most affected by the restrictions for vehicles without a label and with a B label, since traffic is prohibited in “more than half of the car park” in these cities. The municipal politicians insist that the measures that the Generalitat wants to apply clearly affect citizens with the lowest incomes and that they cannot change vehicles in the usual way.
They also consider that a control of the results of this type of policy is “not being carried out rigorously” and that they do not demonstrate with empirical data the effectiveness in the fight against climate change. So, in their opinion, there is a risk of generating disaffection among citizens with measures that “have an impact on their way of life without being clear if they are really useful”.
In view of these arguments, Arc Metropolità requests the withdrawal of the decree and urges the Department of Climate Action to agree on a new decree “with measures that are more effective, realistic and adapted to the territory” with the commitment of the Generalitat to invest more in public transport and take “more courageous actions in the fight against climate change” and avoid transferring responsibility exclusively to councils “as is being done so far”.
The municipalities of the second crown had planned that the ZBE regulation would be carried out during the second quarter of 2024 and that at the beginning of 2025 permanent restrictions would be made to, in May of the same year, begin to impose the sanctions. The municipal proposal foresees numerous exemptions, especially for families with low income levels, with people with reduced mobility and certain professional activities.
