Reports that cars and buses would face an immediate ban from Scotland's new low emissions zones (LEZ) are "misleading", the environment secretary has told MSPs.

Roseanna Cunningham said "lead-in" periods, starting from the announcement of a zone's location and running for a time after it was established, would give drivers the chance to manage the change.

In a statement at Holyrood she said lead-in periods for LEZs in other European locations had run for up to four years.

Scotland's first LEZ is due to be set up by the end of next year, with the location expected to be announced shortly.

The Scottish Government plans to have zones in place in the four biggest cities by 2020.

The zones, banning the most polluting vehicles, are part of broader proposals to cut emissions and improve air quality.

Ms Cunningham said the decision on locations and design will be led by local authorities.

A consultation, running until November 28, is currently seeking views from the public.

The environment secretary said: "Initial media reports suggested the immediate banning of cars and buses in 2018. This of course is inaccurate and misleading.

"We are proposing that local authorities identify specific vehicle types that will not be allowed to enter an LEZ.

"This would mean that such vehicles would be subject to a financial penalty if they illegally entered a zone. We want to avoid such breaches."

Ms Cunningham added: "Lead-in times would allow commercial fleet operators and private vehicle owners time to prepare and manage the change as part of fleet management.

"European LEZs have set variable timeframes for lead-in times, typically from one to four years."

She continued: "A phased introduction of inclusion of vehicle types into an LEZ is expected.

"Local authorities may decide to include private cars... at some point if they believe that such emission sources are significant enough to warrant inclusion.

"The precise arrangements will be in city-specific design plans."

Labour and the Greens questioned the minister on the budget for LEZs, while the Conservatives said the proposals did not go far enough.

Tory MSP Maurice Golden said: "Whilst many of the SNP government's proposals present a positive and constructive step forward, we believe that the plans fall short of expectation and would argue that there is a need for them to go further."

Green MSP Mark Ruskell added: "Given that as the statement has just acknowledged it can take up to four years to roll out an LEZ, it perhaps suggests that this statement is three years too late.".