Council Leaders Rebel Against London Mayor’s ULEZ Expansion

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks after being reelected in the London mayoral election, at the City Hall in London on May 8, 2021. (Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

London council chiefs have accused Sadiq Khan of ignoring data for a city air pollution-cutting scheme that will charge motorists by the day to drive, which they say will cause “misery” to residents and working people.

Leaders of London councils Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, and Hillingdon have refused to sign an agreement on London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) scheme and are now seeking to challenge it in the courts.

Khan claims that each year 4,000 Londoners “die prematurely each year because of long-term exposure to air pollution, with the greatest number of deaths in outer London boroughs.”

However, the council leaders have cited a study by Imperial College London that said that while ULEZ did reduce the city’s nitrogen dioxide levels during the first few weeks of its implementation, on its own was not a “silver bullet.”

“As other cities consider implementing similar schemes, this study implies that the ULEZ on its own is not an effective strategy in the sense that the marginal causal effects were small,” the study said.

In a response letter to Khan, leaders have said that with such “little benefit to be gained” from the expansion of ULEZ, “very careful consideration must be given to the adverse impacts it will have on residents and businesses, and we believe that you have failed to give sufficient weight to this.”

They have also raised concerns about thousands of cameras using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to detect entry being fitted across London.

A sign at the expanded boundary of London’s ULEZ pollution charge zone for older vehicles on Oct. 25, 2021. (Yui Mok/PA)

ULEZ

The ULEZ is an area in which vehicles that do not meet certain emissions standards must pay a daily charge of £12.50 to drive or face fines. It covers four million people, around 44 percent of London’s population.

The scheme currently covers the areas within London’s North and South Circular roads. It is set to expand to the whole of Greater London from Aug. 29, 2023.

To avoid the ULEZ fee, diesel vehicles, which make up the vast majority of vans—must be Euro 6 standard, which generally covers those registered from 2016.

A delivery van driver or tradesperson entering the zone in an older van every working day will rack up more than £3,100 a year in charges.

Drivers who fail to pay face a £160 penalty each day, which is halved if paid within a fortnight.

The Ultra Low Emission Zone is to expand to the North and South circulars from 2021. (Transport for London)

‘The timing of it is absolutely shocking’

Leader of Bromley Council Colin Smith told The Epoch Times the air quality in the area is “pretty damn good for a town around any major city” and has claimed that Khan’s figures ignore residents and businesses.

Khan singled out Bromley as having the highest number of premature deaths linked to air pollution, but Smith said the study he cited noted that this was down to the high number of older residents living in the town.

Smith added that elderly residents in Bromley spent their younger years living in London boroughs, exposed to London smogs and smoke-filled pubs of the past, but also that residents move their elderly family to a high number of care homes there.

“What this is all about is money,” he said.

He added that local residents and independent business owners such as plumbers and workmen are under pressure to buy vans that need to meet minimum emissions standards.

“New vans are increasingly in short supply and the price is higher because they’re in demand,” he said.

“People are struggling to pay their bills at the moment, for all sorts of reasons. And even if this were the right idea, the timing of it is absolutely shocking,” said Smith.

He said that council leaders could have more news on a legal challenge within the week.

“This is actually something that the government really do need to consider checking in on and stopping this because the misery this is going to cause is just untold, unfathomable, actually nobody can really see the impact this will have,” he said.

Khan has previously stated it is “simply not true” that the scheme is a “money-making venture.”

He has said that Transport for London (TfL) expects net income to fall to “nominal levels within the next few years” and until then, all net revenue will be reinvested back into transport in London.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London told The Epoch Times by email that the “air quality data used by City Hall is completely robust and is based on the most accurate scientific investigation into the human cost of poor air from globally renowned experts at Imperial College London.

“It is extremely disappointing that these four local authorities refuse to accept the categorical proof that toxic air really is a matter of life and death,” he added.

“Sadiq refuses to sit back and do nothing when lives are being lost and urges these local authorities to support his plans to bring cleaner air to every Londoner, wherever they live in the capital.”

PA Media and Lily Zhou contributed to this report.