As the old prayer might have put it: Lord, give us cleaner air – but not just yet. To the joy of some and the dismay of others, six months from now, London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) will extend across the entire capital.
Few recent political decisions aside from Brexit have proved so divisive. Is it a difficult but necessary move that will improve the health of millions; or a squeeze on thousands of cash-strapped suburban Londoners?
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, argues the city cannot afford to not stop people “breathing in poison”, with 4,000 premature deaths a year from toxic air in the capital.
Yet in places it has become a hot “culture war” issue, with suburban councils lining up against the Labour mayor, fuelling conspiracy theories on the fringes. In the middle are a significant minority: people driving older, polluting cars, now faced with a £12.50 fee each day they use them in outer London.
London’s Ulez is by far the most extensive of Britain’s clean air zones, most of which only cover city centres and are driven by national government policy to meet legal pollution limits. Several were delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent economic turbulence; Manchester, notably, has abandoned plans to charge vehicles after facing fierce opposition.
Sheffield is the latest city to implement one – its zone comes into force on Monday. But, as in the Tyneside scheme, which launched last month, only older commercial vehicles face possible charges. Outside London, only Birmingham and Bristol charge private cars.
Cars, though, are the major target now in London, with older HGVs already paying £100 a day to enter the city-wide low emission zone since 2021. That boundary will be matched by the Ulez from 29 August, affecting 1.3m vehicles and bringing 5 million more people into cleaner air.
Proportionately, the leap is less than Ulez’s October 2021 expansion to just within the north and south circular roads – an area 18 times the size of the original zone. Its swift acceptance – and successful transformation in cutting the numbers of polluting vehicles by 60%, from 124,000 to 50,000 a day – has buoyed the mayor and Transport for London’s confidence that the Ulez will overcome opposition in outer London.
Right now, that includes a legal challenge from five Conservative-run councils – the boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon, as well as Surrey – which are seeking a judicial review.
But the average resident inside the current Ulez is wealthier and has better public transport alternatives than those in outer London. In outer boroughs, more households on lower incomes are likely to own a vehicle.
A callout to Guardian readers showed the breadth of feeling: strong support from non-drivers and people wanting to breathe cleaner air; some vituperative antipathy towards Khan; and a host of people worried about the impact on their finances.
Several who did not want their names to be published, living on the fringes of London on low incomes, feared their jobs, businesses or family life would become unviable: a flight attendant from Norwood, whose shifts fall outside public transport services; a chef more concerned by the daily cost to reach work in Hillingdon despite her own asthma; a carer in Sidcup whose husband’s diesel van will be charged.
The introduction of Britain’s biggest scrappage scheme, a £110m fund from City Hall, will go some way to help the poorest – but many who feel the pinch are in work, and not eligible.
Matthew Walsh, 55, a tradesperson working around Wimbledon, says he already limits jobs to outside the Ulez: “The price of a compliant van is beyond my finances. I am considering packing up work and even moving out of London.”
Linda Taylor, 75, is retired in Swanley, Kent, and is counting the future cost of regular visits to relations: “All my children and grandchildren and other relations live in the area where the mayor wants to extend the Ulez.”
Sukh Singh, 48, from Hounslow, has already petitioned his MP in person to lay out his concerns: “I work in Slough; I have to take my daughter to school and hospital, as she has health problems. I wouldn’t be able to manage if I didn’t have a car.”
He says he cannot afford to replace his 2010 VW diesel with a compliant car but faces £62.50 a week in impending Ulez charges. “At the end of the week I now have about £80 to budget for food – what do I do, feed my family or pay this charge?”
Singh feels particularly aggrieved given the pollution from planes at nearby Heathrow airport. Almost a third of the 30,000 people who drive to work at the airport have noncompliant vehicles, according to a spokesperson.
But the data suggests a marked change in London. In 2017, when plans were announced for the first Ulez expansion, about 60% of vehicles were noncompliant; now it is about 6% of the total. Compliance for HGVs is even more dramatic: only 3% of lorries are now charged, meaning a fraction of the oldest, dirtiest vehicles drive in.
City Hall says that six months after the expansion, London air pollution was cut by a quarter. Concerns that charging would push polluting vehicles to the borders have been unfounded, with research last month showing that levels of nitrogen oxides on the north and south circular roads have dropped significantly in the last year.
The politics, though, remain toxic – even if City Hall says its own polling suggests most, particularly younger residents, back its plans for cleaner air.
Opposition is rife in the outer boroughs, which Tony Travers, the director of LSE London, describes as the capital’s equivalent of the “red wall” – with Ulez giving Conservative politicians “useful ways of recruiting lower-income voters”.
Such traditionally Labour voters, he says, are “like with Brexit, on the other side on this one. Partly, car ownership is aspirational – but also, the further out, public transport is less good, and people tend to work more antisocial hours and so need cars more.”
However, Travers believes the impact in reducing pollution will be significant and behaviour will change rapidly.
Max Maggioni, 43, a sales manager in Wandsworth, has not driven into the zone since its first expansion. “I bought an electric bike instead,” he said. When the Ulez reaches his home he expects “to get rid of the car and test living without one, despite having two kids under five”. He hopes others will follow: “We need to change our approach to mobility, whether we like it or not.”
How England’s clean air zones compare
London
Ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) launched April 2019 in central congestion zone; extended October 2021; due to cover Greater London from August.
Noncompliant private cars, vans and taxis pay £12.50 a day. Older lorries and buses pay under the London-wide low emission zone, launched in 2008 and increased to a daily charge of £100 in 2021.
Bath
Clean air zone (CAZ) over a wide central area since June 2021. No charge for private cars; noncompliant taxis and vans £9 a day, buses, coaches and HGVs £100 a day.
Birmingham
Two-mile CAZ within the Middleway ring road since June 2021. £8 a day for older cars, taxis or vans, £50 for buses and HGVs.
Bradford
Two-mile wide CAZ within inner ring road extending to Shipley, since September 2022. No charge for cars; noncompliant taxis £7, vans £9, £50 for buses, coaches and HGVs.
Bristol
City centre CAZ launched in November 22. £9 a day for older cars, taxis or vans, £100 for buses, coaches and HGVs.
Portsmouth
City centre CAZ stretching to the ferry terminal since November 2021. No charge for cars; noncompliant taxis £10 a day, buses, coaches and HGVs £50 a day.
Sheffield
CAZ launches on 27 February 2023. No charge for cars; noncompliant taxis or vans £10 a day, buses and HGVs £50 a day.
Tyneside
Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead centres covered by CAZ since 30 January 2023. No charge for cars; noncompliant taxis £12.50 a day (or £50 a week), buses, coaches and HGVs £50 a day.
