Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on 'Alternative traffic in towns'
Date: 1999-06-03
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: motor vehicle pollution, pollution control measures, road traffic, traffic regulations, urban transport

13.10.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 293/55

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘Alternative traffic in towns’

(1999/C 293/11)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the decision taken by its bureau on 10 march 1999, under the 4th paragraph of
article 198c of the treaty establishing the european community, to direct commission 4 for spatial
planning, urban issues, energy and environment to draw up the opinion ‘alternative traffic in towns’;

having regard to the contribution of commission 3 — trans-european networks, transport, information
society (co-rapporteur: Mr Gustâv);

having regard to the draft opinion (cdr 105/99 rev 1) adopted by commission 4 on 16 april 1999
(rapporteur: Ms Sally Powell, co-rapporteur: Mr Gustâv),

adopted the following opinion at its plenary session of 2 and 3 June 1999 (meeting of 3 June).

1.

Introduction

2. General comments

The Alternative Traffic In Towns (ALTER) project was launched
at the first joint Environment and Transport Minister’s Euro-
pean Council in April 1998 by UK Deputy Prime Minister
John Prescott with the support of European Commissioners
Bjerregaard, Kinnock and Papoutsis.

The project aims to create a clear and rising demand for zero
and low emission vehicles among European local and regional
authorities. In this way, it is hoped to permit volume pro-
duction and lower costs for both public and private users of
such vehicles.

The ALTER project has three main provisions, which local and
regional authorities are asked to agree. These provisions are:

•

•

•

to renew municipal transport vehicles on a clean or near
zero emission basis, as soon as it is feasible;

to undertake, where practical, to convert those vehicles
with extended lifetimes to lower emission or cleaner fuels;

to introduce and progressively extend areas of cities to
which only traffic with clean or near zero emissions would
have access.

These provisions are set out in the ‘Declaration on Alternative
traffic in Towns’ that local and regional authorities are being
asked to sign. The full declaration is annexed to this report.

The Committee of the Regions offers its wholehearted support
to the aims and objectives of the ALTER project. The Com-
mittee of the Regions recognizes that Alter appreciates that
there is a continued need for traffic to sustain the life of our
cities and their peoples and that the promotion of low emission
vehicles must be compatible with efficient transportation. It
welcomes and emphasises the fact
local authorities
themselves can adjust its measures to different current econ-
omic, social and traffic conditions in different parts of the
European Union.

that

Alternative Traffic in Towns is a key subject of interest to
European local and regional authorities. The Committee of the
Regions is keen to help ensure the success of the project.

ALTER recognizes the need for policy integration across
different policy areas, something for which the Committee of
the Regions has long argued. The ALTER initiative takes a
levels of government
holistic approach by involving all
and covering transport, energy, spatial planning and the
environment.
facilitates the use of clean or near zero
emission vehicles whilst simultaneously encouraging the exten-
sion of zones that are open only to these types of vehicles.

It

The integrated approach includes employment and social
inclusion. There are exciting employment benefits that are
linked to ALTER. For example, the significant job opportunities
arising from the labour intensive work involved in converting
existing vehicles. Training in the necessary skills can be given
to the unemployed.

The declaration was launched at the Florence Convention
which took place in October 1998. Already about 130 Euro-
pean municipalities have signed up to the ALTER declaration.
The convention received a great deal of interest from the
motor industry, who attended in significant numbers.

In coordinating joint action by a very large number of
municipalities across Europe, ALTER can demonstrate that
there is a major potential demand for clean vehicles which will
justify transition from prototype to volume production, with
lower unit costs for producers and lower prices for both
municipalities and private users.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

13.10.1999

Through such a major demand shift, ALTER can enhance a
range of Commission sponsored projects which have pro-
moted the purchase of clean vehicle prototypes, or the use of
it can assist governments, the
cleaner fuels. In so doing,
European Commission and local and regional authorities to
fulfill their commitments to improve the quality of the urban
environment.

The Committee therefore welcomes the indications from the
European Investment bank that it can co-finance both urban
infrastructure projects related to the ALTER project and the
purchase of clean vehicle fleets, and from the European
Investment Fund that it can offer venture capital and loan
guarantees for SME investment in developing and producing
clean vehicle technology, and SME development of facilities
for conversion of vehicles to cleaner fuel use.

The project seeks to involve all sectors — government,
local government, business and others. The Committee fully
endorses this approach. It is essential to recognize the need for
all tiers of government and all sectors to work together to
promote ALTER in an integrated way.

ALTER recognizes the need for a bottom-up approach. In line
with Local Agenda 21 principles, ALTER understands the
global impact achieved by local actions.

Schedules for the introduction of supporting measures to
stimulate the use of low emission vehicles, e.g. zones for clean
cars only, has to consider local conditions, alternative routes
available etc. and give the operators reasonable time to adapt
themselves to the new rules. This is especially essential for
goods distributors and for public transport.

The COR is of the opinion that it is essential to reinforce the
ALTER-project in a way which guarantees influence from local
and regional authorities, stimulates cooperation and exchange
of experiences between all parts involved and provides infor-
mation about the progress of the project in different cities and
regions in the Union.

The Committee asks that the other European institutions,
Member State governments, business, especially the motor
industry, and all other interested organizations to commit
themselves to the ALTER project and facilitate the involvement
of local and regional authorities. In particular, the Committee
calls on these organizations to:

The exchange of good practice between authorities is vital to
strengthen the scope of the ALTER project. In addition, it is
necessary to implement a coherent communications policy
about projects which come under this programme so that the
general public in the EU see how they are affected.

• publicly commit to ALTER, thereby raising awareness

about the project;

3. Recommendations

The Committee of the Regions welcomes the initiative of EU
Ministers and European Commissioners in initiating the ALTER
proposal.
If successful, ALTER could lead to significant
improvements to the lives of European citizens. The Com-
mittee will work to promote the initiative and ensure the
project’s success.

By endorsing the ALTER project, the Committee of the Regions
calls on all European local and regional authorities to sign up
to the ALTER declaration, thereby increasing and accelerating
its impact.

However willing, local and regional authorities are not always
able to carry out the work of promoting alternative forms of
transport in isolation. Many municipalities do not have the
financial resources or powers to undertake this work.

•

•

•

•

assure sufficient core finance for ALTER to sustain inte-
grated liaison between municipalities and producers of
vehicles and less polluting fuels in its implementation and
to help municipalities (particularly the least prosperous) to
implement the accompanying measures needed to pro-
mote the use of cleaner vehicles and to replace or adapt
the vehicles they have;

increase financial support for organizations keen to pro-
mote Alternative Traffic in Towns, as local and regional
authorities do not always have sufficient resources;

encourage the use of low emission vehicles as part of an
integrated and sustainable transport policy. Accompanying
measures could include parking zones, park and ride
schemes, cycle and pedestrian facilities and so on
depending on local conditions;

increase support for research and technological develop-
ment work on issues concerned with alternative traffic and
particularly the use of less polluting fuels;

13.10.1999

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 293/57

•

cooperate
to introduce

fully

in enabling
extend

and

local
zones

level
initiatives
to which only

traffic with clean or near zero emissions would have
access.

Brussels, 3 June 1999.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Manfred DAMMEYER

APPENDIX

to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions

The Declaration of Florence on alternative Traffic in Towns

In view of the atmospheric and noise pollution of our cities from vehicle emissions, the damage caused by this to the
health of our citizens, and the resulting degradation of our heritage and environment,

With regard for the need to advance the Rio de Janeiro and Kyoto inter-governmental agreements on the environment,

Appreciating, that there is continued need for traffic to sustain the life of our cities and their peoples, and that this
need should, first and foremost, be met by the development of an efficient and environmentally sustainable public
transport network;

Recognising the progress shown by many vehicle manufacturers in prototyping or producing cleaner emission
vehicles;

Conscious that the efficient coordination of information from European Towns and cities can identify, organise and
programme a cumulative increase in demand, to enable manufacturers to plan the production of cleaner emission
vehicles and thus to accelerate transition from prototypes into volume production,

Realizing that a rising demand for clean emission vehicles should enable producers to lower costs, and achieve more
competitive prices for the purchase of clean emission or near zero emission vehicles by public authorities and
corporate and private users,

Allowing that towns and cities in most cases are not responsible for country, provincial, regional or national roads,
but,

Anticipating that joint action by towns and cities, by changing the cost of clean traffic, will influence the readiness of
highway authorities to cooperate in the extension of the areas to which regulations concerning clean traffic will in
due course apply,

Understanding that the ALTER (Alternative Traffic in Towns) Project implies that subscribing cities:

•

•

•

•

•

Agree, from as soon as feasible, to renew their own transport on a clean or near zero emission basis;

Undertake, where practical, to convert those of their vehicles with extended lifetimes to lower emission or
cleaner fuel;

Introduce and progressively extend areas of their cities to which only traffic with clean or near zero
emissions would have access;

Decide themselves the categories of vehicles and the date from which measures taken to implement these
three main commitments would apply;

Commit themselves to inform ALTER-Europe of the categories and anticipated number of vehicles
concerned in implementing these measures so that the new demand by such categories can be aggregated
and transmitted to manufacturers and fuel suppliers;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

13.10.1999

to the

With respect
town/city of
....................................................... to the aims and objectives indicated above, which will, following its discussion and
proposals for amendments, provide the basis for a joint declaration to be signed by all the cities present at the
Convention of European Cities at Florence on 23-24 October.

and on its/her behalf hereby

subscribe

solemnly

above,

the

Name

Position

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘The European Commission’s Communication
“Sustainable urban development in the European Union: a framework for action”’

(1999/C 293/12)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘Sustainable Urban Development in
the European Union: A Framework for Action’ [COM(1998) 605 final];

having regard to the decision taken by the European Commission on 4 November 1998, under the first
paragraph of Article 198c of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to consult the Committee
of the Regions on the matter;

having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 15 July 1998 to direct Commission 4 for Spatial
Planning, Urban Issues, Energy and Environment to draw up the relevant opinion;

having regard to the Draft Opinion (CdR 115/99 rev. 1) adopted by Commission 4 on 16 April 1999
(rapporteurs: Mrs Sally Powell and Mrs Eva-Riitta Siitonen),

adopted the following opinion at its plenary session of 2 and 3 June 1999 (meeting of 3 June)
unanimously.

1.

Introduction

usher the EU’s urban policy into the new century and act as a
guide for future urban policy. Nevertheless, action in the field
of urban policy must not be allowed to lead to an extension of
the EU’s powers.

1.1.
The Committee of the Regions welcomes the develop-
ment of urban policy achieved within the Framework for
Action, and is particularly pleased to see the urban agenda
move forward so promptly after the previous communication
‘Towards an Urban Agenda in the European Union’. The
latest communication, ‘Sustainable Urban Development in the
European Union: A Framework for Action’, represents an
important step forward in the recognition of urban areas and
in the co-ordinating of the urban policy and actions within the
EU. The Committee of the Regions also supports and welcomes
in the
the integrated approach to urban policy set out
Framework. The Framework is a positive step on the way to
developing a truly integrated approach to urban policy. It will

1.2.
The recognition given to the central role played by
cities, towns and urban areas, and the importance of urban
policy on the EU agenda, is the result of many years of work,
especially on the part of local authorities and the organisations
that represent them. The COR has itself argued for such
recognition, for example in its Opinion on ‘Urban development
and the European Union’ (1995), which commented on the
need for a greater urban dimension to EU policies and in its
opinion on the European Spatial Development Perspective
(ESDP), which focuses on the vital role of towns in regional