Parisians have voted overwhelmingly to further “revegetate” the French capital in a referendum that will pedestrianise some 500 roads.

However, the opposition has blasted Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo’s public consultation – held just a year before municipal elections – as a sham as only four per cent of voters bothered to turn out.

Hidalgo’s previous referendums also suffered low turnouts, with 5.68 per cent for a vote which approved tripling parking charges for SUVs in 2024, and 7.46 per cent regarding banning self-service e-scooters a year earlier. The most recent vote was also open to 16 to 18-year-olds who pre-registered online.

Meanwhile, the automobile lobby complained that the referendum was Ms Hidalgo’s latest move to “kill the car”. 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.

Yves Carra, a spokesman for pro-car group Mobilité club France, told RMC ahead of the vote: “The decisions have already been made.

“If it’s yes, they’ll do 500 streets. If it’s no, they’ll do 480.

“They want to get rid of the car at a time when it is at its greenest, less and less polluting, less noisy and safer.”

Just below 66 per cent of Parisians voted in favour of “planting and pedestrianising 500 new streets in Paris”, while 34 per cent rejected it. But only 4 per cent of registered voters cast their ballot in 218 polling booths around the capital.

A ‘garden city’

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 at a later date on which streets will become pedestrian areas.

An additional 500 pedestrianised streets will mean a total of 700 of these so-called “green lungs”, just over one-tenth of the capital’s streets.

Since 2020, Paris has created 200 “school streets” – pedestrianised roads near schools with trees and greenery. The referendum will see these go beyond school areas to create a “garden city”.

Christophe Najdovski, the Socialist deputy mayor responsible for green spaces said: “The idea is that every Parisian should have a planted, pedestrianised street within 300 metres of their home.”