Sir Sadiq Khan has promised not to “move the goalposts” in relation to which cars and vans are exempt from paying the Ulez ultra-low emission zone levy.
At present, petrol vehicles with a “Euro 4” engine or newer and diesels with a “Euro 6” engine or newer are exempt from the £12.50-a-day levy, which is based on exhaust emissions.
Roughly speaking, this means that 20-year-old petrol cars and vans and 10-year old diesel vehicles will remain exempt from the Ulez levy.
The latest results on the impact of the Greater London Ulez – the zone was expanded across all 33 boroughs in August 2023 – found that 97.5 per cent of cars and 90.7 per cent of vans in outer London now comply with the rules.
This is credited with reducing nitrogen dioxide (NO2) roadside levels in outer London by 4.8 per cent.
However, despite the efforts to reduce emissions, there has been an increase in the total volume of traffic in London – and in congestion levels.
The total number of vehicles seen being driven in London on an average day has increased from 1.97m to 2.1m in the year to September 2024.
Announcing his plans to take the Ulez Londonwide, Sir Sadiq said in 2022 that it would tackle the “triple challenges of air pollution, climate change and congestion”.
During an interview with The Standard last week, Sir Sadiq was asked whether he planned to tighten the Ulez emission rules.
He said: “I have got no plans to move the goalposts in relation to the Ulez standards.
“Londoners have done, and are doing, the right thing: getting rid of non-compliant vehicles and, when they need a car, getting a compliant vehicle.”
According to Transport for London’s “one year on” report on the Greater London Ulez, the number of “non-compliant” vehicles seen driving in the outer London “doughnut” has fallen by 99,000 a day - down from 170,000 in June 2023 to 71,000 in September 2024.
Most petrol vehicles first registered after 2005 have a Ulez-compliant Euro 4 engine, while most diesel vehicles registered after 2015 have a Euro 6 engine.
Euro 7 emission rules, which set the toughest emission standards to date for new vehicles, will come into force on July 1, 2025. These are set by the EU and will not relate directly to the Ulez.
Mums for Lungs, a campaign group that has supported the Ulez, wants Sir Sadiq to go further than the current Ulez rules and introduce new restrictions on diesel vehicles, and also on wood-burning stoves in Greater London.
“This action on the Ulez has really paid off, but I think we need to have a conversation about London still being too polluted,” said Mums for Lungs founder Jemima Hartshorn. “Diesel vehicles and wood burning – they need to be tackled next.”
Campaigners are dismayed that a mayoral pledge to reduce car use by 27 per cent by 2030, as part of a series of options to make London “carbon neutral”, have been abandoned.
Asked how he planned to tackle road congestion, Sir Sadiq said he wanted to encourage “active travel” – walking, cycling and public transport – and for councils to gain powers to “charge utility companies for digging up our roads”.
He told The Standard: “If they are digging up our roads, that leads to congestion, because you have to have diversions. It also means buses are less reliable, and people are less keen to use buses and jump in their cars.”
TfL already operates a “lane rental” scheme that charges utility companies to dig up the main road network.
However it only operates on about 70 per cent of the TfL Road Network. TfL wants to expand the scheme to borough roads.
Latest TfL data shows that average bus speeds in 2024/25 were down year on year from 9.3mph to 9.2mph.
Over the last five years, the number of London bus journeys has plummeted from 2.112m in 2019/20 to 1.869m in 2023/24 – a fall of 11.5 per cent.
A report to TfL’s customer services committee said: “A wide range of issues contribute to this, including the impact of roadworks on London’s streets and generally higher levels of congestion on London’s roads.”
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