Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
‘Sod all’ deal for low-income Londoners, says politician
BUT MAYOR’S TEAM SAYS SCRAPPAGE CASH WILL BE AVAILABLE IF ULEZ EXPANDS
LONDONERS on low incomes “will get the square inch of sod all” if the £12.50-a-day Ultra Low Emissions Zone charge on the most polluting vehicles is extended next year, a Conservative politician has claimed.
City Hall has not yet published any figures for a promised fund to pay people to get rid of their polluting cars, ahead of the planned rollout of ULEZ to all of London next August.
“No one has any number for that scrappage scheme… the Mayor has committed zero pounds and zero pence to the scrappage scheme,” Tory AM Neil Garratt said on Thursday November 3.
But Sadiq Khan’s team insists that low-income and disabled Londoners will get cash to scrap their polluting cars when – or if – ULEZ is expanded to cover all of Greater London in August 2023.
Deputy Mayor Dr Debbie WeekesBernard told the London Assembly: “[The Mayor] does plan to ensure there is a scrappage scheme available to individuals on the lowest incomes, claiming particular benefits, as well as individuals who are disabled, to be able to adapt or buy new vehicles and give them the resources to do so…we have to make sure we’re protecting individuals as much as we can.”
Mr Garratt shared figures showing around half of Londoners with an income of £17,423 own a car, though it drops to a quarter among the poorest income bracket. Mr Garratt added: “The Mayor is making it impossible for them to use their car. They’re not driving shiny new Teslas.”
There is no figure yet for how generous any new scrappage scheme would be. The deputy mayor told AMs: “We can’t announce the scrappage scheme until the decision is made [but] we do have funds for the scrappage scheme.” The last scrappage scheme of around £60million ran out almost immediately after ULEZ was expanded again to cover inner London last October.
Mr Khan is under mounting pressure over plans to expand ULEZ to cover all of London next year, facing fierce heckling at a People’s Question Time event for voters on Wednesday November 2 over the issue.
The deputy mayor hinted that the scheme’s expansion is still up in the air, telling the London Assembly Mr Khan “will be making a decision based on the [TfL] consultation.” That consultation was leaked recently, with early figures suggesting around two thirds of respondents were opposed to the pollution levy being expanded.
London suffers more than 4,000 premature deaths a year due to poor air quality. But facing mounting pressure, Mr Khan has suggested he could delay plans to expand ULEZ to all of London, which he had planned to go ahead in August 2023.
Most vehicles in London are already ULEZ-compliant.
Around 4,000 Londoners died prematurely in 2019 because of long-term exposure to air pollution, with the greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution in outer London boroughs.
More than 500,000 Londoners live with asthma and are more vulnerable to the impacts of ‘toxic’ air, with more than half of these people living in outer London boroughs.
The formal TfL consultation responses on expanding ULEZ are currently being analysed with TfL set to publish the Consultation Report “in due course”.
The mayor’s team says he will consider this report and TfL’s recommendations before deciding whether to confirm the expansion plans by the end of the year.