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At the end of 2018, Scotland's first Low Emission Zone was introduced in Glasgow in an attempt to make significant reductions in levels of air pollution in the city centre.

With a 'first phase' initial focus on local service buses, the strict emission standards required to enter the LEZ will be fully implemented in December of 2022, when all vehicles entering the zone will have to meet specified exhaust emission standards.

The zone is based on a penalty notice approach to effectively ban non-compliant vehicles, and comes months after a study noted how Hope Street in the city centre - Scotland's most polluted street - registered nitrogen dioxide levels 50% higher than the legal limit in 2018.

Yet air pollution campaigners labelled the zone a 'no ambition zone', pointing to what they regard as 'weak' terms and the fact it will not encourage many bus firms to change their fleet to comply with the terms - factors which they say will in inhibit much change in the levels of air quality in the city in the coming years.

And that begs the question - why not ban traffic from the city centre altogether now, instead of what's planned in three years time?

It's a tactic that has already been used with success in cities across Europe as local governments seek to banish vehicles from city centre streets in favour of more pedestrianisation, cycle lanes and increased priority for public transportation.

Take Madrid for example. Spain's capital city implemented Madrid Central back in November last year in a 1.8 mile square area of the city centre, to help curb poor air quality and increase the space given to pedestrians.

(Image: El Pais)

Then Mayor Manuela Carmena set up a system of security cameras to monitor vehicles entering the designated area - making exceptions for public transportation and some delivery vehicles and issuing permits for residents and their visitors - with offenders fined 90 euros unless their vehicle was electric or certified as non-polluting.

According to environmental group Ecologists in Action, the system (which bans all petrol vehicles registered before 2000 and diesel ones registered before 2006) has been a success. In April this year, nitrogen dioxide levels in the city centre were down by 48% compared with the previous year - while public transport use in the city has also grown.

Meanwhile in Oslo, authorities removed more than 700 parking spots in the city centre and replaced them with bike lanes, plants, tiny parks and benches. Admittedly a slightly more gradual approach, it is still regarded as a major step toward a vision of a car-free city centre in the Norwegian capital.

As in Madrid, parking garages on the periphery of the centre (and designated garages within the city centre) help encourage vehicle owners to park and ride on public transport or use bikes or go on foot.

So could it work in Glasgow city centre if the plans were to be implemented?

Sauchiehall Street has already undertaken a major transformation to reduce the number of road space taken up by vehicles with the introduction of a two-way cycle lane on the northern side of the street and widened pavements being widened to free up more space for pedestrians.

(Image: Glasgow City Council)

Last year, a public consultation was undertaken by Glasgow City Council concerning a permanent prohibition of traffic in George Square - which was met with 67 per cent registering support for a permanent prohibition and 75 per cent backing temporary measures.

Like in Madrid, the implementation of a ban could have a 'bed-in' period to allow for an awareness campaign to take place among Glasgow's car drivers, with letters or warning sent out instead of fines for the first two months of the strategy.

Meanwhile, local residents and non-residents with appropriate energy labels could enter the area, alongside drivers with reduced mobility, ambulances, taxis, private-hire cars and delivery vans (for a specified time period in the mornings).

Doing so, however, could obviously cause major traffic delays in the periphery of the 'Low Emission Zone' area - which covers the city centre area from the Saltmarket and the Broomielaw to Newton Street in the west and the M8 in the north of the city.

Authorities would also likely have to construct more hi-rise (or underground) parking areas on the outskirts of the city centre to cope with the need for spaces among commuters, which would obviously require both time and enough existing land to use.

Perhaps the system could be introduced on a trial basis at weekends when journeys into the city centre by privately owned vehicles are much less frequent - and in doing so, really encourage a change in commuter habits by asking residents to ditch their cars and make better use of city cycle lanes or public transport.

Such a move could make, in the process, make Glasgow live up to its 'Dear Green Place' name origin.

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