From Friday, only vehicles producing zero emissions will be allowed to drive freely in downtown Madrid – making it a pollution pioneer in Europe

By 10.15 on Wednesday morning, Enrique Pelagio had parked his lorry in the chic Madrid neighbourhood of Chueca and was stacking the trolley that would bring the local cafes, bars and restaurants their daily bread and pastries.

Across the road was the van from the fruit and veg shop, while near the craft beer place sat a red delivery truck from the ubiquitous Mahou brewery.

This mini-murmuration of goods vehicles takes place throughout the capital several times a day, every day.

But change is afoot. On Friday, Madrid’s latest anti-pollution measure comes into force: a ban on polluting vehicles in the city centre.

The plan, known as Madrid Central, establishes a low-emissions zone that covers 472 hectares (1,166 acres). All petrol vehicles registered before 2000 and diesel ones registered before 2006 will be banned from the area, unless they are used by residents of the area or meet other exemptions. The goal is to cut nitrogen dioxide levels by 23% in 2020 and put people – rather than the internal combustion engine – at the heart of transport policy.

There have been similar moves in other major cities: at the end of 2016, the mayors of Paris, Athens and Mexico City joined Madrid in announcing plans to take diesel cars and vans off their roads by 2025, and in May this year Hamburg became the first German city to ban some older diesel vehicles from two of its main roads.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Smog hangs over Mardrid and road signs warn of speed limits in place due to air pollution. Photograph: Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Oslo, which had planned on making its city centre car-free, is now embarked on a drive to ensure it has the “fewest possible vehicles”. And in January last year Paris launched a colour-coded sticker scheme to ban all diesel cars registered between 1997 and 2000 between 8am and 8pm.

Madrid’s proposal, however, is bolder still: the only vehicles allowed to drive freely around the downtown area will be those that produce zero emissions.

As he stacks his trolley, Pelagio is more sanguine about the new rules than many of his colleagues, who say they can’t afford to upgrade to cleaner vehicles.

“It’s the only way forward,” he said. Besides, with fewer older cars and lorries, “there’ll be more space”.

There's a clear link between pollution peaks and hospital admissions Inés Sabanés, councillor

There will be some access under strict rules. Hybrids and LPG vehicles will be allowed into the area to park for a maximum of two hours, and more modern diesel and petrol vehicles will only be allowed in to park in public carparks or private garages.

Truck drivers such as Pelagio, meanwhile, will be subject to a timetable: the oldest, most polluting lorries will only be admitted from 7am to 1pm, while more modern ones will see that window extended until 9pm.

The leftwing city council of Manuela Carmena, the mayor of Madrid, argues that the initiative is as much about public health as public transport.

“Air quality has been breaching acceptable levels for 10 years and people in the city are being exposed to air that has clear effects on their health, especially those who are most vulnerable, such as children and older people,” said Inés Sabanés, councillor for the environment and mobility.

“There’s research that shows clear links between pollution peaks and hospital admissions. It has a very clear effect on health – on the number of deaths and premature births.”

The mayor’s conservative opponents have tried to thwart the plan, arguing that it hasn’t been executed correctly or been properly thought out.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Madrid council says the plan will help to decentralise the city and ensure a fairer distribution of wealth and resources. Photograph: Samuel de Roman/Getty Images

Others have their own reasons. Antonio Villaverde, president of the Association of Self-employed Lorry Drivers (Ata), says that while his members are in favour of addressing Madrid’s pollution problem, they simply don’t have the money to buy new vehicles.

“We’ll need to replace 90% of our vehicles in Madrid over the course of just five years,” he said. “Even if we wanted to, it’s practically impossible. The problem with all this is that the sector is still using very old vehicles because of the economic crisis.”

Villaverde says the reduced delivery hours could have serious consequences. “If this goes ahead, I think two things will happen: there will be forced supply shortages in the city because we won’t be able to deliver,” he said. “And a lot of us will have to close our small businesses because we won’t be able to buy new lorries.”

Sabanés disagrees with the gloomier predictions. Of the 2m or so daily journeys made to the city centre, 1.2m are already made on public transport, 550,000 on foot, and only 230,000 by car.

“There’s a narrative around that the centre of Madrid is being shut down,” she said. “But that’s not true. Lorry drivers, residents and their guests can enter the centre.”

Gradually, vehicles will come to realise that they’re not the ones in charge José Manuel Calvo, council representative

Petrol and diesel taxis, as well as private hire vehicles, will be allowed into the zone until the end of 2022. The authorities won’t start imposing fines on people who break the rules until next March.

Sabanés also rejects suggestions that Madrid Central is drastic. “I don’t think it’s among the strictest measures,” she said. “There are different models, such as charging a lot to enter the centre of a city, or legal bans on driving in certain areas, like in Berlin. Madrid has gone for a mixed model, which will allow for a gradual implementation as we set about achieving our goals.”

She likens it to the smoking ban that came in seven years ago: despite the initial dark mutterings, people quickly adjusted to the new norms. There was also grumbling in some quarters 35 years ago when Madrid banned cars from its most famous park, El Retiro.

If there is opposition, argues the councillor, it is not coming from neighbourhood groups, environmental campaigners or health professionals. “They’re all saying that’s it’s already overdue and needs to happen now..”

Paco Segura, coordinator of environmental group Ecologists in Action, couldn’t agree more.

For years, he says, successive Madrid councils have been in denial over the scale of the city’s pollution problem.

“We’ve filed dozens of complaints and put out a ton of reports with official figures that show that, year after year, we’re going above the legal limits.

“Our main criticism of this plan is that it’s come so late. Studies show that this is responsible for the premature deaths of about 3,000 people a year. Not acting as quickly as possible would be totally immoral.”

As far as the city council is concerned, Madrid Central is not a war on cars but rather a challenge to their dominance and a push towards better co-existence between vehicles and pedestrians.

It is also about geography and social equality. José Manuel Calvo, the city council’s representative for sustainable urban development, says the plan will help to decentralise Madrid and ensure a fairer distribution of wealth and resources.

“We needs to redress the balance so that there isn’t such a high concentration of activity in the centre compared with peripheral areas,” he said.

Calvo insists ways can be found to cut pollution while still preserving life in the centre of Madrid so that it remains a place where people can live, work, eat, drink and shop, and which tourists want to visit.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest About 3,000 people die prematurely in Madrid every year due to pollution. Photograph: Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty Images

He points to the “last mile” distribution models being developed in other cities, whereby goods are delivered to warehouses close to the centre of town and ferried to customers in sustainable vehicles including bicycles.

One day, he hopes, the Spanish capital will more closely resemble the northwestern city of Pontevedra, which banned all but essential traffic in its centre almost 20 years ago.

“It would be on another scale, but it’s possible. With Madrid Central, the whole of the centre will become a shared space, with reduced speed limits and more pavement.

“Gradually, vehicles will come to realise that they’re not the ones in charge.”

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