The first attempt in Poland to introduce a “clean transport zone” in which older, more polluting cars would have been banned has been rejected by a court.
Plans to introduce the zone were approved in 2022 by the council of Kraków, Poland’s second-largest city and which has some of the country’s worst air pollution. The measures were supposed to come into force in July this year.
However, the decision was challenged last year by Łukasz Kmita, governor of the Małopolska province in which Kraków is located. Kmita, an appointee of the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, argued that the ban on older cars represented “far-reaching interference in constitutional rights and freedoms”.
The government-appointed provincial governor has launched a legal challenge against plans by opposition-controlled Kraków to create Poland's first clean transport zone.
He says the move to ban older cars would violate "constitutional rights and freedoms" https://t.co/gwkBSa9wx8
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 21, 2023
In a ruling issued today, the Provincial Administrative Court in Kraków agreed with Kmita’s arguments that the geographical scope of the zone had not been properly defined and that the regulation approved by the council does not, as it should, specify how traffic would be organised within the zone.
In response to the court’s decision, deputy mayor Andrzej Kulig told broadcaster TVN that a new resolution to introduce a clean transport zone would be prepared. However, he said that this would not happen until after local elections are held in spring. The measures could then go into force in 2025.
“We will prepare a new resolution that will remove the defects pointed out by the court,” said Kulig. “This is mainly due to the insufficiently precise definition of the boundaries, with particular emphasis on motorways. We also need to provide access to the city – for example, park and ride – for people from outside Kraków.”
Strefa Czystego Transportu w Krakowie nielegalna. Sąd unieważnia uchwałę miasta https://t.co/OddtjHtHXh
— Business Insider Polska 🇵🇱 (@BIPolska) January 11, 2024
After a new government took power last month, it appointed a new governor of Małopolska, Krzysztof Klęczar. However, he told TVN that he also “has personal doubts” about the idea of a clean transport zone in Kraków.
“Ideally, we would all use low-emission or zero-emission means of transport, but at the moment we cannot afford it,” said Klęczar. “Our job is to meet collective needs and I believe that currently the inhabitants of Małopolska are not ready for such a solution.”
However, yesterday a group called the Coalition of Doctors and Scientists for Healthy Air sent an appeal to Kraków city council calling for a clean transport zone to be established. They pointed to research showing that 295 lives could be saved a year by reducing emissions from transport in the city.
Kraków in Poland had the second-worst air pollution in the world at one point yesterday, behind only Delhi in India.
Local authorities issued warnings advising residents to limit outdoor physical activity and the amount of air they let into their homes https://t.co/AOD0tPoWrL
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 7, 2023
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Main image credit: Tom Chrostek / Unsplash
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
