Mayor to Press Ahead with ULEZ Expansion Across Greater London


Consultation results showed clear majority opposed to proposal

Expanded scheme will be operational within 10 months Expanded scheme will be operational within 10 months

Sadiq Khan has announced that he intends to expand the Ultra-Low Emission Zone to cover the whole of Greater London following a public consultation.

It means that from 29 August next year, drivers of older vehicles that do not meet strict emissions standards will have to pay the daily £12.50 charge to drive anywhere in London.

There has been widespread opposition to the plan which some say will hit lower income drivers hardest at a time of generally rising costs but City Hall says the scheme will improve air quality across London.

Around 60 per cent of respondents to TfL’s public consultation are thought to have opposed the expansion, though a YouGov poll commissioned by City Hall found that only 27 per cent of Londoners were opposed.

Sadiq Khan said expanding the ULEZ in the face of widespread opposition was “one of the toughest decisions I have made” but stressed that the public consultation was “not a referendum”.

Mr Khan said, “Let me be frank, this decision was not made lightly. The easy thing to do would’ve been to kick the can down the road. But in the end, public health comes before political expediency, and I will not stand idly by while Londoners die, and our children are choked by poisonous fumes.”

In addition to announcing the expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone, the mayor also announced he would introduce a new £110 million scrappage scheme to help lower income Londoners get older, non-compliant cars off the road and swap them for compliant vehicles.

Nick Rogers, transport spokesperson for the GLA Conservatives, said that “now is not the time” to expand the zone and “hammer” more Londoners with the £12.50 levy.

He said, “The official report from TfL shows an overwhelming majority – about 60% – of respondents are opposed to Sadiq Khan’s damaging plans to expand the ULEZ. This increases to 68% when you exclude organised campaigns, and a staggering 80% of people who work in outer London are against.

“Now is not the time to hammer Londoners with a £12.50 daily cost-of-living charge. Residents have made their views very clear to the mayor: they do not want the ULEZ expansion. The mayor must listen to them, scrap these plans and use the £250 million saved on real measures that tackle air pollution.”

Joe Talora - Local Democracy Reporter

 

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the ch November 25, 2022 . For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.


November 25, 2022