Paris residents vote in favour of making 500 more streets pedestrian

PARIS (Reuters) - Parisians voted in a referendum on Sunday to pedestrianise a further 500 of the city's streets, giving fresh momentum to efforts by the French capital's left-leaning town hall to curb car usage and improve air quality.

Some 65.96% of Parisians voted in favour of the measure, while 34.04% rejected it, official results showed. Only 4.06% of voters turned out in the consultation, which was organised by the municipality.

This was the third such referendum in Paris in as many years, following a 2023 vote that approved a ban on e-scooters, and a decision last year to triple parking charges for large SUVs.

The referendum will eliminate 10,000 more parking spots in Paris, adding to the 10,000 removed since 2020. The city's two million residents will be consulted on which streets will become pedestrian areas.

Paris town hall data shows car traffic in the city has more than halved since the Socialists took power in the capital at the turn of the century.

The 500 additional streets to be pedestrianised will bring the total number of these so-called "green lungs" to nearly 700, just over one-tenth of the capital's streets.

Despite recent changes, Paris lags other European capitals in terms of green infrastructure - which include private gardens, parks, tree-lined streets, water and wetlands - making up only 26% of the city area versus a European capitals average of 41%, according to the European Environment Agency.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Gareth Jones)