Transport for London has the power to install Ulez cameras across the capital’s suburbs regardless of council opposition, a Cabinet minister has confirmed.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said Mayor Sadiq Khan and TfL were legally entitled to erect the enforcement cameras – despite protests against the Ulez that have seen more than 50 cameras vandalised or stolen.
Mr Harper, responding in the Commons to a question from Tory MP Gareth Bacon, who has been battling against the expansion, said the only way to block the Ulez expansion was for Londoners to elect a new mayor in the City Hall elections next year.
Mr Harper said: “Under schedule 23 of the Greater London Authority Act, the Mayor of London and Transport for London do have the relevant statutory powers to install the infrastructure required for the expansion without obtaining London boroughs’ consent.
“I think that reinforces my earlier answer – which is that the Mayor of London is accountable, and if electors in London don’t like what is going on, they have the power to deal with it at the ballot box.”
But Mr Harper said that Mr Khan was not allowed to use £6bn of Government grants provided to keep TfL afloat during the pandemic to expand the Ulez.
Mr Bacon, the MP for Orpington, said several outer London boroughs had refused to enter into “section 8” agreements with TfL in relation to the new cameras.
Sadiq Khan is riding roughshod over outer London's objections to ULEZ expansion, installing cameras and signs without boroughs' consent. He needs to go.
— Gareth Bacon MP (@GarethBaconMP) April 20, 2023
My question to the Transport Secretary today: pic.twitter.com/adCU3UVCyj
He asked Mr Harper at transport questions on Thursday: “Sadiq Khan believes he can override the boroughs and install his hated Ulez expansion without their permission.
“Ministers have previously said they will get legal advice on this. What advice has been received?”
The Standard had previously revealed that TfL retained the power to erect cameras and Ulez signs on Red Routes, the capital’s main roads under its control, and on top of its traffic signals.
TfL also tried to get outer London boroughs affected by the Ulez expansion - which is due to widen to the Greater London boundary on August 29 - to sign “section 8” agreements signifying their consent for cameras and signs to be placed on borough roads, though it retained the power to override their objections if necessary.
Agreement had been secured from 17of the 24 affected boroughs, TfL commissioner Andy Lord said last month.
Four Tory boroughs - Harrow, Hillingdon, Bexley and Bromley - plus Surrey County Council have been given permission to challenge Mr Khan’s Ulez expansion plans in the High Court in July.
A TfL spokesman said: “We are working closely and collaboratively with the local authorities concerned to install the infrastructure needed. Where cameras and signs have been installed, all the correct permitting processes have been followed.”
In the Commons, Mr Harper rejected calls for the Government to help fund the £110m scrappage scheme set up by the mayor to help lower-income Londoners and small businesses registered in the capital to replace non-compliant vehicles.
He said it was “a bit rich” for the Government to be asked to fund the scrappage scheme when it had already provided TfL with £6bn to cover pandemic losses.
Labour MP Ruth Cadbury said the Government had funded scrappage schemes or clean air zones in Bath, Birmingham, Bristol and Sheffield and questioned why it had not provided a “single penny” of scrappage funding for London.
Mr Harper replied: “The Mayor of London is expaning his Ulez scheme. That is his decision. It is therefore for him to fund the necessary scrappage scheme.
“If he doesn’t want to fund a proper scrappage scheme then he shouldn’t be expanding the Ulez.”
