Member of Parliament for Beckenham, Bob Stewart, has called on the Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to drop his plans to extend the so-called Ultra Low Emission Zone to Outer London. The follows confirmation from the Mayor of London that he will go ahead with the extension from August 2023 – despite huge opposition during the public consultation.
Along with a number of local Councillors and London Assembly Member Peter Fortune, Bob is campaigning against the Labour Mayor of London's plan to extend the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to Outer-London, and to places such as Beckenham & West Wickham. The extension will see drivers of non-compliant vehicles face a daily fee of £12.50 for using their vehicles.
Bob supports the aim of reducing congestion and cleaning up air quality across London but does not believe spending £200 million on an expanded camera network to enforcing a new tax which will hit people on low/ fixed incomes, small businesses and charities the hardest is the way to do this.
Bob would prefer to see the money spent on practical measures such as;
- Less polluting Bus Routes: Speeding up delivery of a bus fleet zero-emission faster and expanding zero emission bus zones and routes, with priority given to areas of poor air quality and deprivation.
- Greener Infrastructure: Installation of more rapid electric vehicle charging points and create additional charging hubs. By working with TfL and London boroughs. The Mayor can assess what blocks are preventing the further expansion of car clubs and to work together to remove them.
- Scrappage Scheme: helping people swap to greener vehicles without threatening them by providing a bigger and better scrappage scheme prior, including the option of travel credits that could be spent on either car clubs or public transport.
Bob has launched a petition calling for the extension to be dropped which can be signed on this website.
The consultation, run by the Mayor and TfL over the summer, found that 60% of overall responses were against the extension, the figure rises to 68% opposed when “organised responses” are excluded. Of this:
·80% of local businesses in Outer-London are opposed to the extension
·80% of employees in Outer-London are opposed
·75% of visitors to London are opposed
·90% of Black Cab Drivers are opposed
Bob said:
“Sadiq Khan said he would listen to the consultation if an over whelming majority were opposed, they did and he has chosen to ignore them. The Mayor doesn’t need to spend £200 million on extending a camera network, he could spend the money on practical solutions to clean up air across London, instead, he has chosen to levy a new tax on the most vulnerable, carers, small businesses and charities during these tough economic times.”
