The leader of Edinburgh City Council is hoping to learn from the “mistakes” of Glasgow’s low emission zone (LEZ) as the capital gears up to roll out the air pollution measure in the next year.

Glasgow’s LEZ began operation at the start of the month, amid concerns from businesses who did not comply with the rules.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross labelled the measure the “latest anti-driver policy” from the government and said it looked like an “absolute shambles in the making.”

Read more: LEZ delay would have led to 'dire health consequences'

Council chiefs in the capital hope that restricting the most polluting vehicles will significantly reduce harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from vehicles by up to 50 per cent within the designated LEZ area.

Data from Sepa shows that overall compliance with Edinburgh’s LEZ emissions standards had increased from 48% to 78% over the last six years.

Compliance is particularly high amongst buses at 97%, with Lothian Buses at 100% compliance, while 95% of petrol cars and 86% of heavy goods vehicles also meet the standards.

But more than half of diesel cars and a third of light goods vehicles including vans travelling on the main routes into Edinburgh don’t comply with the requirements of the LEZ.

Labour council leader Cammy Day told The Herald on Sunday that the authority has “been quite upfront” about the city’s LEZ plans.

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Mr Day plans to push ahead as planned, despite some in his party at Holyrood calling for a rethink about the proposals for Glasgow.

He said: “We would commit to learning from Glasgow and if Glasgow has made some mistakes, then we’ll of course learn from that.

“But it’s part of our huge ambitious target to get to net zero by 2030. The LEZ has to be part of that.

“We need to adapt our approach to LEZs given Glasgow’s experience and that’s something we’d absolutely do.

“But we have committed to bringing in LEZs next year.”

The city’s transport convener, Labour councillor Scott Arthur, said the high compliance levels mean the LEZ “will not take many cars off the road” in the capital.

He admitted that the plans, that were scaled back in ambition under the previous SNP-Labour administration are “a bit of a compromise”.

He said: “I look what’s happening in Glasgow – they are a year ahead of us with it.

“But I see the challenges some businesses are having there, so I’m glad we’ve got an extra year for businesses inside the zone to prepare and also businesses who want to come into the zone to operate.

“I’m really glad we’ve got that extra year.

“The challenge is funding for it because the way it has been set up, it’s not self-funded.

“We are still having discussions with the Scottish Government about how much money they will be able to give us to support it.”

The SNP group of councillors in Edinburgh, who lost power at last year’s local elections, had tabled plans to revisit a congestion charge for commuters entering the city.

Read more: SNP pledges to charge commuters to enter Edinburgh-wide congestion zone to cut traffic

In 2005, Edinburgh residents voted in a referendum to reject plans for a congestion zone that would have charged motorists £2 a day – with fines up to £60 for those who did not pay.

Mr Day said a congestion charge was “not on the table presently”, but added: “I don’t think we should be shy to think about innovative processes”.

He added: “If the SNP want to bring forward proposals for a congestion charge, then they should do that.

“I think right now when we’ve got commitments to the new tram, commitments to the LEZ, huge commitments to spend money on active travel, at the height of a cost of living crisis, I’m not sure that right now is time to consider a congestion charge.”

Edinburgh and Glasgow have both pledged to become net zero cities in just seven years’ time, but those commitments appear impossible to meet given the vast changes and funding needed, particularly to overhaul transport and heating systems.

Mr Day said the 2030 net zero ambition remains one of his top three priorities.

He said: “It’s a hugely ambitious target and we’ll do everything we can to make sure we get to 2030.

“The key things for the city just now are to fund frontline public services better, do everything we can to get to the 2030 net zero target and do everything we can to eradicate poverty by 2030.”

Asked about the First Minister’s commitment to tackling poverty, Mr Day said: I have written the First Minister asking to meet him but I’ve not had a response.

“I understand he’s publicly committed to bringing leaders around the table and talking about poverty and I’ve not yet had an invite to that discussion.

“I did meet the Local Government Minister Joe FitzPatrick who was quite helpful and committed to a new relationship in working with government, so I welcome that.“

He added: “But I hope that new arrangement recognises the pressures on local government, particularly in Edinburgh where it’s quite different in terms of our housing or our social care needs.

"I hope the Scottish Government might have a reconsideration about how they treat local government as we don’t think it’s been treated very well in the last 10 years from the Scottish Government.”