ULEZ expansion to cover Greater London
London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone will be expanded to cover all of London, despite 80% of people in affected areas opposing the move.
The expansion will come into force from 29 August, 2023.
Following the expansion, drivers of the most polluting cars will have to pay £12.50 a day to enter to the Greater London Authority boundary, with those living inside the zone also having to pay daily charges.
The move is intended to reduce air pollution in the capital with about 160,000 cars and 42,000 vans entering the area daily. However, a recent Transport for London report found that ULEZ had resulted in only marginal improvements to air quality.
London mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The ULEZ so far has been transformational, reducing harmful pollution levels by almost a half in central London. But there is still far too much toxic air pollution permanently damaging the health of young Londoners and leading to thousands of early deaths every year, with the greatest number of deaths in the outer London boroughs.”
ULEZ was first introduced in April 2019 and then expanded last October, when it was made 18 times bigger. Since then it has earned TfL nearly £100m.
Policy director at The Alliance of British Drivers Brian Gregory said: “His whole basis for extending the ULEZ zone on the basis of public health doesn’t stand up to scientific scrutiny. TfL has an enormous hole in its budget and Mayor Khan is looking to fill that hole by any means that he can. I think Mr Khan could quite conceivably find he has legal challenges heading his way.”
