A consultation on plans to expand London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to cover the entire city has been launched (Yui Mok/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)Sadiq Khan has given his first hint that he could delay the expansion of the ultra-low emission zone across Greater London.
The mayor said the option of delaying the zone’s widening next August was “in the mix” due to the cost of living crisis.
It is the first time he has conceded the expansion - which he has proposed to clean up London’s toxic air - could be in doubt.
Mr Khan came under pressure at Mayor’s Question Time from Tory members of the London Assembly over his plans to expand the £12.50-a-day Ulez beyond its current North and South Circular Road boundaries across all 33 boroughs.
Tory assembly member Neil Garratt told him there were Londoners facing the choice of eating or heating this winter, and also facing the risk of having to replace their car to comply with the Ulez emission rules.
He asked Mr Khan whether he “could take the weight off people’s minds” and delay the expansion from the August 29 date that has been earmarked.
Mr Khan said: “The question is: will I today rule out an expansion? I have explained that the consultation has ended, that TfL are looking at the responses to the consultation, there will be analysis undertaken by an independent consultant, and the recommendation will come to me before the end of the year.
“I’m now being asked: will I rule out the expansion taking place in August? The answer is I have not made up my mind until I have seen the report and the analysis that is being done by TfL.
“Once I have done so I will consider various options. I take your representations about a delay. I suspect you are not the first person to have suggested that in the consultation responses, bearing in mind what you have said.
“But I’m sure that will be one of the things that will be in the mix when it comes to TfL analysing the consultation and preparing a recommendation or not for me to make when it comes to me in due course.”
It comes after controversy over the official consultation this summer, which has reportedly resulted in almost two-thirds of respondents opposing the expansion.
But a separate opinion poll of 1,200 Londoners commissioned by the mayor found 51 per cent support for the Ulez and 27 per cent opposed - though a number supporting it also wanted it delayed.
TfL revealed on Wednesday that there had been 58,000 responses to the consultation, the results of which are due by the end of the year.
Mr Khan came under sustained pressure from the London Assemby Tories over his Ulez expansion plans, which have been dubbed the GL-Ulez.
Nick Rogers, the Tory transport spokesman, accused the mayor of “ignoring” concerns about the validity of the consultation by failing to open it to scutiny immediately.
But the mayor said “fossil fuel interest groups” - believed to be a reference to Fair Fuel UK - had boasted of how their activists living outside the capital had sent many submissions to the consultation.
Mr Khan said the consultation results would be scrutinised by an independent consultant appointed by TfL and would be open to public view when published by the end of the calendar year, by which time he also expects to make a decision on whether to proceed.
