“Dear Petitioner
Thank you for the petition about the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) extension up to the North and South Circular roads.
London is currently breaching legal limits for NO2 concentrations and 448 schools in London are in areas exceeding legal air quality levels. Thousands of Londoners die early as a result of our polluted air and research we have undertaken shows that every Londoner in the capital lives in an area exceeding World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for the most dangerous toxic particles known as PM2.5. It also shows that 7.9 million Londoners – nearly 95 per cent of the capital’s population – live in areas of London that exceed the guidelines by 50 per cent or more. PM2.5 are small toxic air particles which are widely acknowledged to have the greatest impact on health, with both short and long-term exposure increasing the likelihood of respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Doing nothing is not an option.
The Mayor is committed to tackling pollution in London and is determined to significantly reduce the levels of these dangerous toxic particles, aiming to get pollution levels to within WHO guidelines by 2030. The ULEZ is a key part of the Mayor’s efforts to tackle London’s appalling air quality, though he has also announced a comprehensive set of other measures to reduce air pollution. These are outlined in the London Transport and Environment strategies and include upgrading London’s bus and taxi fleet, providing rapid charging points for electric vehicles and alerting Londoners to high pollution episodes.
Expanding the ULEZ would lead to improved air quality for millions of Londoners. In outer London there is expected to be a 28 per cent reduction in NOx road transport emissions, and in inner London there would be around a 31 per cent reduction in NOx road transport emissions in 2021 as a result of the Mayor’s measures.
The Mayor first consulted on ideas for improving the ULEZ from October 2016 to December 2016. In total, 15,480 responses were received from the public and businesses. This led to a second statutory consultation on the earlier implementation of the ULEZ, which took place from April 2017 to June 2017. Over 18,000 responses were received, with 63 per cent supporting or strongly supporting proposals to implement the ULEZ in April 2019 and 32 percent opposed or strongly opposed. A further statutory consultation was undertaken on the expansion of the ULEZ from November 2017 to February 2018. Over 37,000 responses were received, with 54 per cent supporting or strongly supporting the expansion of the ULEZ boundary from central London, and 74 per cent backing the new London-wide emissions standards for heavy vehicles. Full details of all the consultations and responses are available at https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/.
The ULEZ is based on vehicles meeting the appropriate NOx and PM standard rather than on their date of registration. Transport for London (TfL) has provided the date of registration as an indicative guide to customers. If you would like to check if your vehicle is compliant or not, TfL has developed an online compliance checker (https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/vrm-checker-ulez) which will tell you whether your vehicle is compliant or not. There is also an opportunity to submit evidence if drivers believe their vehicle has been incorrectly classified.
While the Mayor understands the difficulties some households may face as a result of having a vehicle that may not be compliant with the new emissions standards, the ULEZ does not require the purchase of a brand new vehicle. Those that want to drive have the option of using a petrol car up to sixteen years old in 2021, or a diesel car up to six years old from 2021. For those who don’t change their vehicle, there is a charge of £12.50 a day.
TfL estimates that the cost of implementing the ULEZ expansion will be in the region of £90m - £130m rather than the £780m quoted.
The Mayor continues to call on the Government to introduce a targeted diesel scrappage scheme fund to compensate motorists and clean up our filthy air. This is essential to reduce the economic impact on those most affected, such as small businesses, charities and low-income households. It is within the remit of the Government’s national Clean Air Fund but London is not eligible for any of this funding despite helping to pay for it, which is completely unacceptable.
Alongside the ULEZ, TfL is already investing significantly in cleaning up the bus fleet and replacing or retrofitting buses to meet emissions standards. By October 2020 all buses in London will meet the Euro VI ULEZ emissions standard. Additionally, all single decker buses entering central London will be fully electric or hydrogen and all double decker buses in central London will meet a hybrid standard in addition to the Euro VI standard. We will be introducing double deck electric routes where practical and feasible with 68 new buses being introduced on two routes next year. This is part of the Mayor’s long-term ambition for all buses in greater London to be zero emission by 2037 at the very latest.
In addition to delivering hard-hitting measures on air quality, TfL is delivering one of the world’s largest programmes of transport investment, including building the Elizabeth line and modernising Tube lines and stations. For example, there is now a train every 100 seconds on the Victoria line during the busiest parts of the day, making it one of the most frequent metro services in the world, carrying 3,000 extra passengers each hour. When complete, new signalling on the Circle, Metropolitan, District and Hammersmith & City lines will provide 32 trains per hour in central London and will improve reliability and boost capacity on 40 per cent of the Tube network. On the bus network, TfL’s bus services are now more reliable than they have ever been, and bus speeds have now stabilised and are improving, reversing a long-term trend. TfL has introduced more than 120 bus priority schemes to keep the bus service moving.
These improvements are part of the Mayor’s efforts to provide an affordable, accessible and reliable transport network that encourages and enables people to walk, cycle and use public transport whenever possible.
Yours sincerely
Public Liaison Officer
Greater London Authority”
