Low Emission Zone Scheme

Low emission zones (LEZ) reduce pollution levels and improve air quality by stopping the most polluting vehicles entering a specific area.

Only the cleanest vehicles can travel in a LEZ. Vehicles entering a LEZ that don’t meet the set standards will be issued with a penalty charge notice. The penalty rates will be set at a national level by Regulations. It is expected that different levels will exist for different classes of vehicles and for repeated infringements.

The Scottish Government is working with

• Dundee
• Glasgow
• Edinburgh 
• Aberdeen

to put LEZs in place, with an indicative date for their introduction being between February 2022 to May 2022.

Find out more about the Scottish LEZ plans including proposed vehicle emission standards and an on-line vehicle checker at the national LEZ website.

A delivery group was established in September 2018 to lead the development of a Dundee Low Emission Zone.

The Dundee LEZ will contribute to the broader city objectives and the vision to create a healthy, vibrant and attractive city by protecting public health through improving air quality in Dundee and achieving air quality compliance for NO2, Particulate Matter (PM)10 and PM2.5.

Dundee's LEZ will develop an environment that helps to promote more active and sustainable travel choices, contributes to the city's ongoing transformational change and helps to promote Dundee as an inclusive and desirable place to live, invest, visit and learn.

In September 2019 a report identifying possible options for the Dundee LEZ to be put out for public consultation and stakeholder engagement was presented to Councillors (2.2MB PDF). This report included details of the process used to identify possible options. More than 1300 pople and organisations took part in this consultation exercise, with a report on the results of the consultation, plus an update on the progress of the project, was presented to Councillors in February 2020 (1.2MB PDF).

Coronavirus (Covid-19) has had a major impact on travelling behaviour and NO2 levels. Dundee City Council is working closely with Transport Scotland and the other three cities during the current crisis. 

The indicative timeframe from the Scottish Government aims to introduce the LEZ by May 2022. The formal declaration of Dundee's LEZ will be followed by a grace period for enforcement of the LEZ restrictions so that people and businesses have time (if necessary) to change their vehicles or their journey patterns.

Dundee City Council has not yet decided how long any grace period will be, but the legislation includes that the grace period must:

• be at least 1 year and up to 4 years for non-residents and commercial vehicles;
• have allowance for up to 2 years' additional grace period for residents of the zone.

Support is currently available for certain households and businesses. The LEZ Support Fund will financially support eligible households on specific means-tested benefits, as well as businesses with 9 or fewer full-time employees and sole traders within a 20km radius of a planned LEZ in Scotland, with a grant to move away from older petrol and diesel vehicles. The LEZ Retrofit fund will provide micro businesses within cities with a planned LEZ with support to retrofit their existing non-compliant vehicles with approved solutions that meet the minimum proposed standards of the LEZs. These grants are funded by Transport Scotland.

Further information on grants available and how to apply for these are available on the Energy Saving Trust website.

Further air quality related resources and information about air quality in Dundee are available via our website.