The mayors of the cities of the second metropolitan crown of Barcelona, grouped in the association Arc Metropolità, have transferred to the Department of Climate Action their disagreements about the decree of Zones of Low Emissions (ZBE) and demand its withdrawal.
The nine metropolitan cities of more than 50,000 inhabitants: Granollers, Martorell, Mataró, Mollet del Vallès, Rubí, Sabadell Terrassa, Vilafranca del Penedès and Vilanova i la Geltrú, in a meeting held with the Director General of Climate Change and Environmental Quality, Mireia Boya, they showed their disagreement with the Air Quality Plan Decree project and raised the need to negotiate the implementation of ZBEs with the municipalities of the metropolitan area.
The nine mayors criticize that the Generalitat has not taken into account the consensual model that they presented from Arc Metropolità, maintaining a social and territorial vision, as they presented to the previous councilor, Teresa Jordà. On the other hand, the decree that is already in the allegations phase modifies the work carried out by the municipalities and “does not take into account the social, economic and transportation reality” of the region.
The councilors are against the decree because it generates “a clear invasion of municipal powers” and does not respect the specificity of the municipalities of the second metropolitan ring, affected by the large high-capacity communication routes that cross the territory, nor the deficit of public transport that municipalities suffer from and that “the Generalitat has not been able to solve in the last decade.”
From Arc Metropolità they state that, according to data from the General Traffic Directorate, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Terrassa, Granollers, Mataró and Sabadell, would be the cities most affected by the restrictions for vehicles without a label and with label B, prohibiting circulation to " more than half of the automobile fleet” in these cities. Municipal politicians insist that the measures that the Generalitat wants to apply clearly affect citizens with the lowest incomes and who cannot change vehicles on a regular basis.
They also consider that “a rigorous control of the results of this type of policies is not being carried out” and that they do not demonstrate with empirical data the effectiveness in the fight against climate change. Thus, they believe, there is a risk of generating disaffection among citizens with measures that "impact their way of life without being clear whether they are really useful."
Given these arguments, Arc Metropolità requests the withdrawal of the decree and calls on the Department of Climate Action to agree on a new decree “with measures that are more effective, realistic and adapted to the territory” with the commitment of the Generalitat to invest more in public transport and initiate “braver” actions in the fight against climate change and avoid transferring responsibility exclusively to city councils “as is being done until now.”
The municipalities of the second crown had planned that the regulation of the ZBEs would be carried out in the second quarter of 2024 and that permanent restrictions would be made in early 2025 to begin imposing sanctions in May of the same year. The municipal proposal includes numerous exemptions, especially for families with low income levels, people with reduced mobility and certain professional activities.
