London, UK: The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan is asking Transport for London to consult on expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone London-wide in 2023.
He did rule out the Clean Air Charge and the Greater London Boundary Charge.
Logistics UK cautiously welcomes the plans encouraged that the Clean Air Charge and Greater London Boundary Charge are not being pursued as these would have been unlikely to have delivered the desired air quality results.
Natalie Chapman, head of policy – south, Logistics UK said: “Logistics UK is urging both the Mayor and TfL to work with the logistics industry to ensure a proportionate and joined up approach to road user charging.
“It is encouraging that long-term solutions are being sought and the idea of a simpler, clearer scheme to replace the capital’s various road user charges could make implementation easier for those responsible for keeping the capital supplied with everything that its businesses and residents need.
“Any London-specific road charging scheme must be flexible and adapt to the possible introduction of any future national road charging schemes to avoid fragmentation of regulations,” she said.
New analysis by City Hall published last month showed that despite recent improvements in air quality, every hospital, medical centre and care home in the capital is located in areas that breach the new updated World Health Organisation’s guidelines for nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.
Separate analysis shows vehicle congestion cost the capital £5.1 billion last year, which has risen close to pre-pandemic levels, leading to gridlocked traffic and filthy air pollution, the mayor’s office said.
In order to reduce traffic and associated emissions by anywhere close to the amount required to tackle these three challenges, the capital will have to see a significant shift away from petrol and diesel vehicle use and towards walking and cycling, greater public transport use and cleaner vehicles.
The Mayor is in favour of “smart road user charging”. This would enable all existing road user charges, such as the Congestion Charge and ULEZ, to be scrapped and replaced with a simpler and fair scheme that charges motorists on a per mile basis.
Khan has asked TfL to start exploring how this concept could be developed, however TfL is still many years away from being ready to implement such a scheme.
