Drivers and local businesses in Scotland can now apply for cash incentives to replace polluting vehicles ahead of the arrival of Low Emission Zones mid-2022.

Low Emission Zone schemes in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen are now due mid-2022

The schemes in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen, which build on the existing bus-only scheme in Glasgow, were due to go live in 2020 but have been pushed back some two years due to the pandemic.

Ahead of their arrival – and marking a government commitment to restart the work on LEZs – a new scheme has launched, offering cash incentives and Travel Better vouchers for the removal of non-compliant vehicles.

Administered by Energy Saving Trust, the £2m LEZ Mobility Fund is aimed at individual drivers and micro-businesses and is means-tested.

The scheme provides households with a grant of £2,000 to incentivise removal of a non-compliant vehicle. Secondly, the fund will offer up to two £500 mobility grants or Travel Better vouchers to purchase a bike, e-bike or public transport voucher.

For micro-businesses, the fund provides a flat incentive of £2,500 per car or van to remove a non-compliant vehicle, replace it with a compliant vehicle, or to invest in an alternative mode of transport such as an e-cargo bike.

In addition, £1m is again being made available in 2020/21 to support the retrofitting of light goods vehicles, heavy goods vehicles and taxis through the LEZ Retrofitting Fund for micro-businesses.

Transport secretary Michael Matheson said: “Low Emission Zones are required to protect public health and improve air quality in our city centres, but the transition in our four biggest cities must happen in a fair and a just way. The LEZ Mobility Fund will provide immediate assistance to households and businesses that are most impacted by the anticipated emission standards – and that will be enforced sometime after 2022.”

For more details on the scheme, visit the Energy Saving Trust website.