The ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) is an area in London where a fee is charged for driving the most ‘polluting vehicles’. Boris Johnson announced his plans for the scheme back in 2015; however, subsequent Mayor, Sadiq Khan introduced the zone on 8 April 2019. Inevitably, he has made a right cock-up of it, and is creating a huge problem for those struggling during the cost-of-living crisis. ULEZ is becoming a big con and, guess what, it doesn’t even work. In Glasgow, for example, it was recently reported that air pollution has increased since the introduction of the ULEZ.
The zone was initially meant to cover only Central London; in 2021, it was extended to cover the area within the North Circular and South Circular roads and now, in 2023, it is planned that it will be extended again to cover the entire capital. ULEZ will now encompass most areas inside the M25, as is expanding to all 33 boroughs of Greater London (stretching as far east as Rainham). With other cities planning similar ULEZ schemes, how long before it is extended to the whole of the UK? If you are caught driving in it, you will be fined £12.50, and if you fail to pay and are caught on the network of number-plate recognition cameras, you are liable to pay a fine of £180. That is in addition to the healthy number of speeding fines and parking tickets you may have racked up along the way.
ULEZ is supposed to improve the quality of air, by reducing the number of petrol and diesel vehicles on the roads, and encouraging people to move to hybrid and electric cars. But, there are issues with this; hybrid cars are more expensive, and those on the breadline will inevitably be unable to afford them. In 2021, the average price for a petrol and diesel car was £29,018 and the average price for a hybrid was £36,633–a £7,615 difference. Further, the electricity to run e-cars has to be generated from somewhere. The battery is typically made up of thousands of rechargeable lithium-ion cells. However, the extraction of lithium consumes significant amounts of water and energy, and lithium mining can cause pollution. Even if ULEZ ‘worked’, it merely shifts the pollution elsewhere.
The latest expansion will cost around £160 million. There are arguably more important things to spend our money on at the moment, and Khan is spending it on a scheme with which most people disagree. He has stated that the £12.50 fines will help fund the expansion, but what guarantees do we have that the fines will not simply be increased or given out more liberally to balance the books? Khan has already threatened to ramp up his scheme by using mobile cameras in places where people would not otherwise be picked up. No doubt, Orwell would be proud.
During last week’s by-elections, a Conservative candidate narrowly held off Labour, fittingly, in Boris Johnson’s former constituency. They won by just 495 votes, and Khan’s ULEZ plans are being blamed by Labour for the loss. With scant prospect of the Conservatives taking the London Assembly at the next local elections, but the likelihood of several smaller parties eroding the Labour stranglehold on the assembly, it would be ironic if it were Khan’s own party who managed to put the brakes on his insane plans for our capital city.
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