The Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) will be expanded to cover the entire Greater London area.
The move by Mayor Sadiq Khan means the current London-wide Low Emissions Zone (LEZ) would be tightened to ULEZ standards so vehicles that do not meet Euro 3, 4 or 6 criteria would have to pay £12.50 per day to drive across the entire capital. City Hall expects the expanded ULEZ to be in place by the end of 2023.
This announcement follows a double whammy of additional research on London’s toxic air this week. Firstly, Imperial College London found that an all-time high of 1,700 asthma and COPD hospitalisations were caused by toxic air, with children and young adults being disproportionately affected. Then yesterday (March 3), the Clean Cities Campaign unveiled data that shows the total of London’s diesel cars pollutes three times more nitrogen oxide than the city’s heavy goods vehicles, with Outer London, where car ownership is higher, having a bigger impact.
The ULEZ area was expanded to the North and South Circular Roads in October 2021. Mr Khan has continued to weigh up its further expansion against other options including a Clean Air Charge and a Greater London Boundary Charge, which he has now ruled out.
In a speech at a school in Sydenham, the Mayor said explained why he instructed Transport for London (TfL) to begin the expansion process. He said: “The climate emergency means we only have a small window of opportunity left to reduce carbon emissions to help save the planet. And despite the world-leading progress we have made over the last few years, there is still far too much toxic air pollution permanently damaging the lungs of young Londoners and leading to thousands of deaths every year, with the greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution in outer London boroughs.
“This is also a matter of social justice – with air pollution hitting the poorest communities the hardest. Nearly half of Londoners don’t own a car, but they are disproportionally feeling the damaging consequences polluting vehicles are causing. I believe the proposal to extend the ULEZ London-wide will have the biggest effect on emissions and congestion relative to the potential financial impact on Londoners as a whole. We are also proposing to introduce the biggest scrappage scheme feasible to help Londoners on low incomes, disabled Londoners and businesses.”
The timing of the announcement has been criticised as an additional money-grabbing initiative when Londoners are facing the biggest cost of living crisis for a generation.
However, TfL has been left disappointed by previous ULEZ expansions. It has left a gap in TfL’s budget forecast as more people complied with the stricter emissions standards than expected.The income earned from ULEZ in 2021/22 was£661 million – £20 million lower than expected, according toTfL finance committee papers.
Zack Polanski, Green Party member of the London Assembly, argued that this was a good step but not enough, and that road users in general should be charged.
He said: “The Mayor says we only have a small window of opportunity to get this right – and that’s right. This is a good interim step but there’s no time to waste as we need road user charging to clean up London’s air. Greens on the Assembly have been calling for smart road user charging for at least a decade – so I’m disappointed the Mayor claims we are ‘many years’ away from this scheme.”
The move has been welcomed by environmental campaigners including Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah. Her nine-year-old daughter, Ella, became the first person in the UK to have air pollution cited as a cause of death after a fatal asthma attack. She said: “By taking action and expanding the ULEZ to include the south circular and the whole of London, people will be encouraged to get rid of their dirty vehicles, and children like Ella will breathe more easily and have a better quality of life.
“Air pollution is a public health emergency and immediate action needs to be taken. Since Ella’s death in 2013, the number of children dying from asthma in London hasn’t changed, it’s between eight to 12 every year. This is despite better medicine and the UK having some of the top expertise in asthma treatment. We must continue to clean up the air in order to save lives, especially for people living in poorer communities.”
Detailed proposals are to be released by TfL and City Hall in the coming months.
Original source article: https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/ulez-expansion-sadiq-khan-expand-23284845