Edinburgh's Low Emission Zone has been rubber-stamped by councillors and will now go to Scottish Ministers for approval before taking effect from May 31.
A ban on the most polluting vehicles driving into the city centre will be introduced in a bid to improve air quality.
Diesel cars registered before September 2015 and petrol cars registered before January 2006 — as well as HGVs and buses that do not fall into the 'Euro 6' emissions standards category — will be prohibited from driving within the city centre boundary.
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Motorists unlawfully entering the LEZ will be identified using Automatic Number Plate Recognition and issued with a fine.
There will be a two year 'grace period' meaning enforcement will not begin until June 2024, after which date non-compliant vehicles entering the zone will be fined £60, reduced to £30 if paid in a month.
The agreed boundary — which includes the West End, Queen Street and the New Town, Greenside at the top of Leith Walk, Abbeyhill on the east, Pleasance, the Meadows and Tollcross — has been criticised for excluding Edinburgh's suburban, most-polluted streets.
And fears remain that the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) being concentrated in the city centre will displace pollution and traffic to the outskirts of the area, although Edinburgh City Council's Transport Convenor Lesley Macinnes said these impacts would be "temporary."
Councillor Macinnes also accused Liberal Democrat and Conservative members of attempting to "take a wrecking ball" to the scheme, after they voted against it going ahead in its current form.
The LEZ proposals returned to the transport and environment committee on today (March 31) following a statutory notice period during which formal objections could be made.
A total of 26 objections were received by the council, which mainly focused on "size and location of the boundary, impacts of traffic displacement and the potential financial impacts for individuals and businesses to ensure that they could comply with the scheme," a report to councillors stated.
A letter from the Edinburgh Association of Community Councils, which represents the views of 44 such groups in the capital, argued the LEZ "only benefits the city centre."
It added: "The streets in the suburban communities have had the highest level of emissions with the consequent detrimental effect on public health.
"Perversely it is the residents in these communities which will see no benefit from the proposed Edinburgh LEZ."
Another, from New Town and Broughton Community Council, said the plans give "no recognition of the risks to pedestrians from vehicular emissions in areas outside of the LEZ; some of which have very high levels of walking including children walking to school".
The group also called for Regent Road to be added to the boundary to ensure non-compliant vehicles don't 'rat run' around Calton Hill.
They added that Randolph Crescent, Great Stuart Street and Ainslie Place should be included in the zone as they "are not suitable for diversion routes".
However, transport officers said the concerns — which have been raised at various stages throughout the planning process — should be "set aside" for the scheme to go to the Scottish Government for final approval.
Councillor Macinnes welcomed the results of the final engagement exercise and pointed out the number of objections made was "relatively low" compared to how many Glasgow City Council received during its own LEZ statutory notice period.
She said objections were "looked at extremely carefully by officers," adding that the issues raised have been addressed previously.
Conservative group leader Iain Whyte said the LEZ remains "a matter of public and political debate" which shouldn't be discussed in a pre-election period, adding that the next cohort of councillors should decide whether to take it forward once the new council term begins.
"The council position that the administration have come to will simply move the pollution and congestion to the fringes of the Low Emission Zone," Councillor Whyte said.
"It's therefore, in our view, poorly designed. It will lead to patterns of displacement. It is very expensive, it will cost a lot to enforce in ongoing revenue that we will have to find from another budget - and it will do very little good in that respect."
Councillor Macinnes, SNP, called Councillor Whyte's claims "not correct."
She added: "This is a long-established project, we have dealt with this a number of times at committee, it is a statutory stage of this particular project.
"It does represent the position of any one political party. This particular report represents a continuing stage of development around this particular project, so there is no harm at all in continuing to discuss the LEZ proposals."
Both Councillor Whyte and Lib Dem group leader Kevin Lang tabled amendments urging the council to reject the current LEZ and explore further options for consultation.
Councillor Lang said: "Nothing much has changed at all from the previous debates we've had on this scheme. And actually I think that's one of the reasons there are so few objections, I don't think it's because it's because there is strong support for this scheme as it's set out.
"I think unfortunately it is because of the fact that at every single stage when we have asked the public what they think, a majority of members of this committee, certainly of the administration, have gone against what the people have told us."
"I do think there are serious unaddressed issues around displacement of traffic and the potential for air quality to get worse on the streets immediately around the city centre zone."
He said that councillors are choosing to not pursue a "once in a generation opportunity" for "a much more ambitious, much stronger LEZ that would really drive improvements in air quality."
Meanwhile, the Greens' co-convenor Claire Miller hit back at criticism directed at the party's councillors for supporting the scheme after initially voting against it at a committee last year.
She said: "Our position is strongest on this of any political group on this council and I think any criticism of that is unfounded. We are the ones who want the most stringent measures. We've consistently asked for the strongest measures not just in the LEZ but of all issues of air pollution.
"It's lazy to criticise us in that way. And yes, we originally called for a city-wide stronger LEZ and that is correct, we have changed our stance. The reason we have changed our stance is because what we have a choice between at the moment is going for no Low Emission Zone or a city centre one."
Councillor Miller accused Lib Dem and Conservative members of "politicising" the issue in attempt to have it scrapped at the last hurdle.
Addressing the issues raised at the meeting and throughout the consultations, Councillor Macinnes said: "When we first started this process under this administration, my immediate response was to make the assumption that a city-wide boundary would be the most appropriate and the most effective.
"I laboured under that misapprehension until the evidence came in and the evidence came in and has been evidence at this committee again and again that a correct approach is to tackle the city centre area and to acknowledge and understand the knock-on benefits for the rest of the city."
Transport and Environment Vice Convener Karen Doran, Labour, said: "Significant work carried out to assess this scheme’s impact on carbon emissions, as well as the proposed boundaries and grace period, demonstrates that these proposals are appropriate for the city.
"The LEZ, alongside a range of ambitious projects to improve air quality, will encourage more sustainable transport and support active travel, and is key to achieving cleaner air for everyone."
