The case for: ‘Children’s lungs can’t wait’

“I’m just really glad the ULEZ is coming. Children’s lungs can’t wait,” says Jemima Hartshorn, a Brixton resident who helped set up campaign group Mums For Lungs.

London’s filthy air makes chronic illnesses worse, shortens life expectancy and damages lung development in children. Levels of nitrogen dioxide, mostly produced by diesel vehicles, have been illegally high since 2010 in the vast majority of urban areas in the UK. Noxious emissions make chronic illnesses worse and shorten life expectancy, typically by six months.

A spokesperson for the mayor said: “London’s toxic air increases the risk of asthma and dementia and can damage children’s lung growth. The mayor has delivered a series of hard-hitting measures to tackle our filthy air, from cleaning up the bus fleet to introducing a toxicity charge in central London for the most polluting vehicles. A vital step will be the introduction of the ultra-low emission zone in April next year, which will be the toughest emission standard adopted by any city in the world and will improve air quality for millions of Londoners.”

Simon Alcock, head of public affairs at Client Earth, a firm of environmental lawyers, says the city has “no choice” but to bring in the ULEZ because of the already illegal levels of NOx in the city’s air. “If water was as dirty as our air, we would have taken action much earlier,” he says.

Earlier this year, the high court ruled that the government’s current policy on air pollution was unlawful, and ordered changes.

But Alcock acknowledges the issues faced by diesel drivers.

“Everyone was encouraged to buy diesels by successive governments as they thought it was good for climate change. But it was really bad for your health. I think it’s really important that we help drivers to make the shift, through scrappage schemes or making electric vehicles cheaper to buy.”

The case against: ‘The poorest will be hit hardest’

The ULEZ charges will be “Sadiq Khan’s poll tax”, warns Gareth Bacon, leader of the Conservatives in the Greater London Assembly.

“The introduction of a daily £12.50 charge simply to use their cars, when they had previously done so without incurring any charge (other than the usual cost of motoring, which is not cheap in the UK) is going to come as a shock to a great many people,” he says.

He is supportive of the original central London ULEZ proposed by Boris Johnson, but with an implementation date of 2020, and is opposed to the 2021 expansion of the ULEZ to cover a bigger area.

“It will impact huge numbers of people. More than 3.5 million people live inside this zone and many more pass through it on a daily basis. The zone boundary dissects a dozen London boroughs and residents will suddenly find short trips to, for example, do the weekly shopping, take their child to school or to attend a hospital appointment costing them an additional £12.50 per trip. For those living inside the zone, it will cost them £12.50 every time they turn on their ignition – if they need to drive their car every day, that is the equivalent of an additional tax burden of £4,500 per year. The people hit hardest will be the poorest because many will not be able to afford to upgrade their vehicle.”

Meanwhile, one petition on Change.org, which now has more than 25,000 signatures, claims that the ULEZ is “a stealth tax and nothing to do with air pollution! Also what steps have Transport for London taken to cope with the already struggling bus, tube & train services? Absolutely nothing!”