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| ULEZ expansion: Low emission zone challenge to start at High Court | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A judicial review into Sadiq Khan's plans to expand London's Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is due to get under way at the High Court. | |
| Five Conservative-led councils - Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, Hillingdon and Surrey - have launched legal action over the scheme, planned to cover the whole of London from the end of August. | Five Conservative-led councils - Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, Hillingdon and Surrey - have launched legal action over the scheme, planned to cover the whole of London from the end of August. |
| They say it would have a big financial impact on motorists. | They say it would have a big financial impact on motorists. |
| London's Labour mayor says the scheme is needed to tackle air pollution. | London's Labour mayor says the scheme is needed to tackle air pollution. |
| "The independent assessment confirms that ULEZ works and the expansion will lead to five million more Londoners breathing cleaner air," he told Reuters news agency. | |
| "You're not going to please 100% of people all the time," he added. "No politician in history has managed to do so." | |
| ULEZ expansion: Contested claims examined | ULEZ expansion: Contested claims examined |
| The ULEZ scheme requires people who drive in non-compliant, or more polluting, vehicles to pay a daily charge of £12.50 on days they are driven within inner London. Motorists could face a £160 fine if they do not pay. | |
| A majority of cars driven in London are ULEZ-compliant. | |
| The current zone covers all parts of the city between the North and South circular roads, but London's mayor previously announced it would be expanded to cover the whole of the capital from 29 August. | The current zone covers all parts of the city between the North and South circular roads, but London's mayor previously announced it would be expanded to cover the whole of the capital from 29 August. |
| Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Paul Osborn, the Conservative leader of Harrow Council, said the authority believed its expansion would have a "devastating impact on the poorest motorists in Harrow". | |
| "People who do low paid jobs in antisocial hours, they don't have public transport alternatives. They're being asked to pay £12.50 every day to go to work and if they work over midnight, they'll be asked to pay £25 because they have to pay it for the next day as well," he said. | |
| He added the money spent on the thousands of cameras that are being set up across London could be better spent on widening the scrappage scheme. | |
| Transport for London says all revenue is reinvested into running and improving the capital's transport network, such as expanding bus routes in outer London. | |
| How ULEZ generated £224m in one year | |
| What grounds is the judicial review based on? | |
| Initially, the five outer-London councils argued there were five grounds for a judicial review but in April, the High Court ruled there was sufficient evidence on three of them. | |
| These are that its expansion is too big and that it should be treated as a new scheme; the consultation was flawed, according to the councils, it did not disclose important information. | |
| The third ground is that it did not consider the potential for inclusion of those who live outside London and bordering the zone in the new £110m scrappage scheme. They are not eligible for money from the fund. | |
| Those who are eligible can get up to £2,000 for scrapping a non-compliant car or up to £1,000 for scrapping a motorcycle. For wheelchair-accessible vehicles there is a grant of up to £5,000. | |
| Analysis: Why the councils are taking London's mayor to court and what's at stake | |
| Hirra Khan Adeogun, head of Car Free Cities at Possible, a charity which works on climate action, told the Today programme the legal challenge was a distraction to the main issues at play, air pollution and climate change. | |
| "It's such a shame to see these local authorities wasting time and taxpayers' money trying to prolong the negative impacts of air pollution and climate crisis," she said. | |
| "It's absolutely essential that people in outer London get cleaner air and be part of a greener London and that includes poorer Londoners who are most at risk when it comes to toxic air." | |
| A majority of cars driven in London are ULEZ compliant | |
| The controversial scheme has triggered a fierce debate across the city, pitting the mayor and health campaigners against those who say they cannot take another economic hit during a time where costs are already soaring. | The controversial scheme has triggered a fierce debate across the city, pitting the mayor and health campaigners against those who say they cannot take another economic hit during a time where costs are already soaring. |
| Chris Fordham, who drives a non-compliant 2012 diesel van, said the planned expansion meant he was thinking about stopping work, adding: "They're hitting working class people again." | |
| But Jemima Hartshorn, founder of campaign group Mums for Lungs and mother to an asthmatic daughter, said it was often the poorest who suffered by living next to busy roads. | But Jemima Hartshorn, founder of campaign group Mums for Lungs and mother to an asthmatic daughter, said it was often the poorest who suffered by living next to busy roads. |
| "It's absolutely critical that even in a cost-of-living crisis we do not kick the can of air pollution down the road and let more children grow up unhealthy and unwell," she said. | |
| The hearing, before Mr Justice Swift, is due to start at 10:00 BST on Tuesday. His ruling is expected at a later date. | |
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| Related Topics | Related Topics |
| Transport for London | |
| Harrow | |
| Bromley | |
| London | London |
| Hillingdon | |
| London transport | |
| Bexley | |
| London ULEZ | London ULEZ |