VEHICLE
The ban on diesel and petrol cars in Stockholm’s city should have been introduced at the turn of the year. Now the County Administrative Board is halting the decision until further notice since several companies operating in the area have appealed.
The unique environmental zone would have meant that only pure electric cars would be allowed to drive in a smaller zone, in the center of Stockholm.
The County Administrative Board’s announcement implies an inhibition, that is, the environmental zone must not come into effect until the case has finally been decided.
– We are surprised that the County Administrative Board is doing this now, says Lars Strömgren (MP), traffic councilor in the city of Stockholm.
– We are extremely keen that this zone is in place, he continues.
“The work is not interrupted”
The five appealing companies, three real estate companies, a taxi company and a ride-hailing company have, to varying degrees, called for the zone to be stopped completely, or alternatively postponed by a year.
– We need to analyze this decision to see how we should proceed. The work is not interrupted to achieve better air quality in the area, says Strömgren.
The opposition sees the whole thing in a different way:
“I am proud to win, together with Stockholm’s business community, this important partial victory: The county board halts the introduction of Environmental Zone class 3 until further notice. This is extremely embarrassing for the red-green government, which should now cancel the entire decision,” says Dennis Wedin (M), opposition councilor in a written statement comment.
“Constructive tone”
Wedin further believes that “the introduction took place without real local dialogue”. Something that Strömgren does not agree with:
– It was two years ago that we announced this, we have had around ten large dialogue meetings with several hundred different stakeholders. From most quarters, it has been a very constructive tone, he says.
Source: www.nyteknik.se
