Eleven environmental and transport groups today appealed to the next Mayor of London to order action on his first day in office to tackle the capital’s toxic air.
They urged Sadiq Khan or Zac Goldsmith, whoever is elected to City Hall this week, to strengthen plans for an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
The organisations stressed in a joint statement on the eve of polling day that London’s “toxic and illegal air undermines its status as a world-class city”.They added: “London is consistently breaking legal limits for pollution and Londoners want their next Mayor to take tough action to clean it up.
“We call on the Mayor to pledge that on their first day in office they will mandate Transport for London to draw up options for a bigger, better, carefully-designed Clean Air Zone to be introduced within their first mayoral term.”
This would mean bringing in a beefed-up ULEZ before the planned date of September 2020. The groups backing the statement include Client Earth, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Clean Air in London, the British Lung Foundation, London Cycling Campaign, and pedestrian campaigners Living Streets.
Boris Johnson has hailed the planned ULEZ as one of the “bold” measures he took to make London a world leader among cities tackling nitrogen dioxide and particulate air pollution, which is estimated to kill up to 9,400 Londoners a year. It would cover the same area as the congestion charge. Cars that do not meet Euro 6 standards for diesel emissions would have to pay a £12.50 daily levy to enter the zone, with restrictions also for other vehicles.
Mr Khan has pledged to consult on bringing forward the ULEZ and expanding it along major arterial routes or a wider section of central London, and Mr Goldsmith is promising to ask London councils and communities how the zone can be strengthened.
