12:23 pm, May 31, 2023
The managing director of a new and used car dealership in Glasgow has attacked the city council over its low-emission zone expansion, saying businesses such as his will be hit hard.
The second phase of the zone takes effect tomorrow, and whereas Henrys Skoda in Kyle Street wasn’t included in the first phase, which was rolled out in December 2018 and targeted buses, the boundary is now being expanded to include where the dealership is.
Petrol vehicles that were registered before 2006 and diesels registered before 2015 will be banned from the city centre because of pollution fears.
Bruce Henry, the boss of the showroom, says he was never invited to engage with the council during the consultation period in 2021, nor was he told directly that the dealership would end up within the zone, reports the Glasgow Times.
He fears that its regular customer base will fall by some 11 per cent, which he said would cause a ‘significant impact’ on business, and it would be unable to undertake any more MOT testing on vehicles that didn’t comply with the regulations.
Henry said that when he became aware of the new boundary, he contacted the council but it was too late for consultation and to object.
He was quoted by the newspaper as saying: ‘There was no direct engagement. And for me, direct engagement is actually someone making direct contact with us for some meaningful consultation and that was not [what happened].’
Henry added: ‘We are all approved by the Department for Transport to carry out the MOT testing on vehicles. And what’s happening now is these vehicles will be excluded. We will not be able to bring these vehicles in for MOTs.’
What’s more, if someone wants to trade in a car that isn’t compliant for one that has lower emissions, they won’t be able to do so any more at a dealership that’s within the zone.
Calling the situation ‘extremely frustrating’, he said: ‘I think this is a real challenge for us. We honestly believe that we should be part of the solution in terms of transitioning people to a cleaner alternative.’
Henry commented that he felt the council had ‘ignored’ him.
However, the authority said it had encouraged interested parties to take part in two consultations that had been publicised via press releases as well as promoted social media posts plus radio and digital advertising.
It added that there had been a widespread communications and engagement programme about the scheme since 2018.
Henry said the dealership was in a light industrial area and he couldn’t understand why it had been included in the zone.
‘I think as a scheme it’s not been well thought out,’ he added.
And he warned that more than 200 jobs across the five car businesses within that area could go if trading became untenable.
Henry told the Glasgow Times: ‘The big thing for us is our car dealership should be part of the solution. And that’s something I really want to get across.
‘We need to be the ones that are transitioning people from their cars that are non-compliant to a cleaner alternative. And we can’t do that.’
A council spokesperson was quoted as saying: ‘The area covered by the final phase two boundary…involved a number of decisions including observed and predicted pollution levels, relative traffic levels, predicted improvements in pollution, operational and enforcement factors and potential adverse impacts from redirected or parking traffic.
‘The original zone affected scheduled service buses only. Phase two was treated as an entirely separate proposal with both consultations seeking feedback on the boundary and the entire scheme subject to an official objection period.
‘Glasgow has historically recorded the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution of any Scottish city and has been the first to monitor a return to nitrogen dioxide levels above the legal objective during recovery from the pandemic.
‘Considering the delay in the original timescale due to the pandemic, it is reasonable that Glasgow enforces the [zone] at the earliest opportunity to help bring down pollution levels to a more acceptable level and reduce the health impacts on those who live, work and use our city centre for retail and leisure.’
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