High Court judge rules Sadiq Khan's Ulez expansion can go ahead
Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ expansion WILL go ahead! High Court rules in London Mayor’s favour with more boroughs set to pay £12.50 a-day charge from August 29
- Ulez extension to encompass all of Greater London is due to begin on August 29
- Judge has now given ruling on legal challenge brought by five Tory-led councils
- ULEZ checker: Every car affected and facing charges – is YOURS compatible?
Five Conservative-led councils today lost their High Court challenge against London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to expand the capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez).
Judge Mr Justice Swift gave his ruling this morning over the challenge brought by the councils against the expansion, which is due to come into force on August 29.
The outer London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon along with Surrey County Council had launched legal action in February over the Labour Mayor’s proposals to extend Ulez beyond the North and South Circular roads.
But the court’s decision has given Mr Khan the green light to ensure motorists across all of Greater London will be forced to pay the £12.50 daily fee to drive in just over four weeks’ time if their vehicles do not meet the required emissions standards.
However, it comes amid ongoing divisions within the Labour Party over whether the expansion should go ahead, with leader Sir Keir Starmer asking Mr Khan to ‘reflect on’ how to reduce the impact of the scheme on people amid a cost-of-living crisis.
Giving a summary of his ruling, Mr Justice Swift said: ‘I am satisfied that the mayor’s decision to expand the Ulez area by amendment of the present road charging scheme, rather than by making an entirely new … scheme, was within his powers.’
The judge added that, having ‘carefully considered’ the consultation process, he was satisfied that enough information was given for people who wished to respond to provide ‘informed responses’. He also said the consultation on the scrappage scheme was ‘not in depth’, but was ‘lawful’.
And Mr Khan said today: ‘This landmark decision is good news as it means we can proceed with cleaning up the air in outer London on August 29. The decision to expand the Ulez was very difficult and not something I took lightly and I continue to do everything possible to address any concerns Londoners may have.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured in June 2022) wants to expand the capital’s Ulez area
Protesters stand outside London’s High Court before judgement is made in the Ulez case today
The expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) is due to come into force on August 29
‘The ULEZ has already reduced toxic nitrogen dioxide air pollution by nearly half in central London and a fifth in inner London. The coming expansion will see five million more Londoners being able to breathe cleaner air.
What is Ulez and why is it being extended?
Mayor Sadiq Khan plans to expand London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) zone from its current borders of the North and South Circular roads to encompass the outer London boroughs on August 29. Here is what it means for motorists in the capital:
– What is Ulez for?
Separate from the congestion charge, which is aimed at reducing traffic, Ulez is designed to cut air pollution in the capital by discouraging the use of high-emission vehicles through imposing a daily fee.
It runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and aims to improve the health of Londoners by reducing the amount of particulate matter and nitrous oxides they breathe.
– What does it apply to?
All cars, motorcycles, vans, minibuses and other specialist vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tonnes.
Generally, petrol cars registered after 2005 and diesel cars registered after 2015 meet the emissions standards.
Cars older than this are charged £12.50 a day with a penalty for non-payment of up to £180.
– How do I know if my vehicle is Ulez compliant?
Drivers can check whether their vehicle meets the emissions standards on Transport for London’s (TfL) website by entering in their registration number.
Automatic number plate recognition cameras are set up along streets within the zone that check the registration with DVLA records to determine the vehicle’s age and therefore its compliance.
– Whose idea was Ulez?
The scheme was first approved in 2015 when Mr Johnson was London mayor but introduced four years later under Mr Khan’s stewardship.
Mr Khan has since been a strong supporter of Ulez and has been advocating for its expansion towards the outer boroughs.
– Why is it expanding?
At first, Ulez only applied to central London but in 2021 grew to border the North and South Circular roads as part of a pandemic bail-out agreement between TfL and the Government.
Mr Khan said he wants to expand the zone further to encompass the outer London boroughs from August 29 to lower the air pollution in those areas.
Opponents of the expansion believe the Mayor is using it as a way to make money for TfL.
– Why are people opposed?
Critics of the Ulez expansion say the scheme disproportionately affects poorer people who need to drive for work and that it discourages sole traders from outside London taking work in the city.
A scrappage scheme is in placing for people on benefits with older cars to receive up to £2,000 or a mixture of cash and public transport passes, but critics of this say the money is not enough.
– Could Ulez be ditched?
The Conservative-run outer London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon along with Surrey County Council had taken legal action against the Mayor of London in the High Court, saying he lacks the legal power to order the scheme’s extension. The judgment on that case was given today, in favour of Mr Khan.
It is likely to be a prominent campaign issue in next year’s mayoral and general elections and Labour may choose to reconsider backing it.
– How serious is air pollution?
Government health officials believe particulate matter and nitrous oxides kill between 28,000 and 36,000 people every year and estimate a £1.6 billion cost to the NHS between 2017 and 2025, with vehicle exhausts being the main source of those gases.
In 2020, Ella Kissi-Debrah became the first person in the world to have air pollution cited as a cause of death.
She died in 2013 at nine years old after suffering from an asthma attack brought on by ingesting traffic fumes near her home in south-east London.
‘I’ve been listening to Londoners throughout the ULEZ rollout, which is why from next week I am expanding the scrappage scheme to nearly a million families who receive child benefit and all small businesses with up to fifty employees. I will continue to look at new ideas to support Londoners.
‘Nine out of 10 cars seen driving in outer London on an average day are already compliant so won’t pay a penny – yet will still see the benefits of cleaner air. Air pollution is an urgent public health crisis – our children are growing up with stunted lungs and it is linked to a host of serious conditions, from heart disease to cancer and dementia.
‘This unambiguous decision today in the High Court allows us to press on with the difficult but vital task of cleaning up London’s air and tackling the climate crisis.’
Reacting to the verdict, Susan Hall, the Tory hopeful taking on Mr Khan to be Mayor, told MailOnline today: ‘While it is a shame the High Court did not find the Ulez expansion to be unlawful, there is no denying that Sadiq Khan’s plans will have a devastating impact on families and businesses across the city.
‘If I am elected Mayor, I will stop the Ulez expansion on day one and set up a £50million pollution hotspots fund to tackle the issue where it is, instead of taxing people where it isn’t.’
Keith Prince AM, the City Hall Conservatives transport spokesman, added: ‘While there was insufficient evidence the Ulez expansion is unlawful, the evidence is clear that the policy will hit the poorest hardest, while having only a negligible effect on air quality.
‘Sadiq Khan cannot ignore the overwhelming opposition of both Londoners and his own party forever. We will continue campaigning to get the Ulez expansion scrapped, so we can tackle air pollution where it is instead of taxing where it isn’t.’
RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes called for a ‘unified approach’ to Ulez expansion.
He said: ‘Following today’s ruling, we encourage the Mayor and the Government to get around the table and take a more strategic and unified approach to introducing the new zone.
‘Everybody wants cleaner air, but the scale of the challenge of getting many more people into Ulez-compliant vehicles cannot be underestimated.
‘A Freedom of Information request we made to the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) showed there could be up to 700,000 cars in the Greater London area that don’t conform to Ulez standards, and this figure does not include those drivers from outside the capital who use their vehicles to commute into the Greater London area.
‘While the principle of cleaning up London’s air is the right one, it has come at a time where drivers can ill afford to replace their vehicles during a cost-of-living crisis.
‘We’d very much like to see additional support given to certain keyworkers, both inside the capital and in neighbouring counties, who depend on their vehicles to help them switch to cleaner ones as affordably as possible.’
At a hearing earlier this month, the local authorities’ lawyers argued Mr Khan lacked the legal power to order the expansion of the zone by varying existing regulations.
Craig Howell Williams KC, for the councils, said there was an ‘unfair and unlawful’ approach to collecting views on the plans and that ‘key information… was not disclosed’ during previous consultation.
The barrister added that plans for a £110million scheme to provide grants supporting the scrapping of non-Ulez compliant vehicles were also unlawful because a ‘buffer zone’ for ‘non-Londoners’ affected by the extended charging zone was not considered.
But the Mayor’s legal team rejected the bid to quash his November 2022 decision to extend Ulez to all of London’s boroughs, arguing the move was ‘entirely lawful’ and that ‘ample information’ was provided for a ‘fair consultation’.
Ben Jaffey KC, representing the mayor and Transport for London (TfL) – an interested party in the case – said the ‘primary objective’ of the Ulez expansion was ‘to improve London’s air quality, in particular reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulates’.
The barrister said Mr Khan’s decisions ‘will help to get London’s air quality closer to legal limits, where they are exceeded, and World Health Organisation guideline levels everywhere’.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Khan had admitted his plans could have been ‘quashed’ if the court were to have ruled them illegal.
He told ITV yesterday: ‘There are a number of things the court could say and some of those could lead to a delay – the court could quash the order I made to expand Ulez.
‘So there are a number of things it could do from quash the decision to expand Ulez to require, hypothetically speaking, to reconsult. I am someone who believes in the court of law.’
The new borders of Ulez will reach Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey.
Ahead of the judgement, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper was asked on Sky News this morning whether she would welcome a delay to the expansion.
She said: ‘Keir Starmer has asked the Mayor of London to look at this again, to rethink. We know that there’s an issue about the cost-of-living crisis affecting people right across the country, and that’s an issue that came up as part of the Uxbridge by-election, and that’s why Keir Starmer has asked the Mayor of London to rethink on this.
‘The broader approach that we need to take on all of these environmental issues is to do all we can to both improve the environment and help people with the cost-of-living at the same time, and that’s what Labour’s clean energy plans are designed to do.
‘Because that is about cutting energy bills and it’s also about making sure that we can reach the Net Zero target as well. Link those two things together.’
Protesters demonstrate against the Ultra Low Emission Zone at London’s High Court on July 4
She continued: ‘There’s different approaches you take to scrappage schemes, for example. And the Government, as I understand, it has given more support for scrappage schemes in other parts of the country so that you help people with the cost-of-living at the same time as pursuing environmental objectives.
Drivers hit by ‘price penalty’ to meet Ulez rules, says Auto Trader
Drivers buying used cars which will avoid daily fees from the planned expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) are being hit by a ‘price penalty’, according to analysis.
Online vehicle marketplace Auto Trader said some motorists are being charged over £3,000 more for Ulez-compliant vehicles compared with identical models only a year older which do not meet the scheme’s emissions standards.
The company, which is used by about four out of five UK vehicle retailers, said its research is ‘hard evidence’ the used car market is being distorted by the Ulez plan.
To avoid the £12.50 daily fee for driving in the Ulez area, diesel cars must generally have been first registered after September 2015, while most petrol cars registered after 2005 are also exempt.
Auto Trader said the biggest price gap across the UK involves a used Volkswagen Golf 2016 model being sold for £3,601 more than a 2015 non-compliant version. That is an increase of 28 per cent from £9,445 to £13,046.
Similarly, a used Ford Focus from 2016 costs £2,828 more than a 2015 model. This represents a 27 per cent rise, from £7,508 to £10,336.
Other used 2016 models with an apparent premium for Ulez compliance include a Land Rover Epoque (£2,594 more expensive), Nissan Qashqai (£2,220 more expensive) and BMW 3 Series (£1,645 more expensive).
‘So we need to see that kind of recognition from the Government and those are the sorts of issues that I think Keir Starmer has asked should be looked at as part of this.’
The ruling comes in the wake of last week’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip parliamentary by-election, where Labour’s failure to win ex-prime minister Boris Johnson’s seat was blamed on concerns around the expansion of Ulez.
Right-wing Tories have since urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to review the deadlines around environmental measures after voter concerns helped their party hang on to the seat.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday agreed that the Ulez charge had lost Uxbridge for Labour, and blasted the tax.
‘It came up on the doorstep all the time,’ she told The Sun. ‘The richest people are able to upgrade their car every two or three years… it’s a tax on people with older cars, it’s not a progressive tax.’
Miss Reeves added: ‘With the cost of living, it doesn’t feel like the right time to clobber people with extra charges.’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has declined to say if London’s charge on polluting vehicles should go ahead, saying it was a decision for Mr Khan, who has been asked to ‘reflect on’ how to reduce the impact of the scheme on people amid a cost-of-living crisis.
But sources close to Mr Khan insist that it was ‘a really difficult decision, but necessary to save the lives of young and vulnerable Londoners’.
Mr Khan is understood to be committed to implementing the expansion, but is open to ideas on how to mitigate the impact on Londoners.
His team has defended the policy, saying that nine in 10 cars driving in outer London are already compliant with Ulez regulations and will not be charged.
Officials have also pointed to the £110million scrappage scheme recently topped up by City Hall.
However, Sir Keir previously backed his party’s unsuccessful Uxbridge by-election candidate who called for a delay to the plans.
And earlier this week he was accused of trying to ‘wash his hands’ of the Ulez expansion as he refused to say whether it should go ahead.
The opposition leader said it was up to Mr Khan to decide whether to press on widening the zone, but said it was not a ‘simple political decision’.
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Yesterday Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow climate and net zero secretary, said Sir Keir was ‘100 per cent committed’ to green policies.
Dismissing as ‘tittle-tattle’ reports of unhappiness in Labour circles about the party’s green agenda, Mr Miliband told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: ‘I am far too experienced to be worried about that kind of thing.
‘Because the truth is you always get tittle tattle in Westminster.
‘The truth is that Keir Starmer is absolutely 100 per cent committed to the project of clean energy by 2030, which is the way to cut bills and give us energy security and tackle the climate crisis.
‘And he’s also absolutely committed, as is Rachel Reeves, to ramping up to £28billion a year of investment to bring the good jobs that we need for our country.
‘And you know what? If Labour wins the election, we will never have had a prime minister and a chancellor so committed to this agenda and I’m incredibly proud to work alongside them.’
Meanwhile, new analysis revealed today that drivers buying used cars which will avoid daily fees from the planned expansion of Ulez are being hit by a ‘price penalty’.
Online vehicle marketplace Auto Trader said some motorists are being charged over £3,000 more for Ulez-compliant vehicles compared with identical models only a year older which do not meet the scheme’s emissions standards.
The company, which is used by about four out of five UK vehicle retailers, said its research is ‘hard evidence’ the used car market is being distorted by the Ulez plan.
Council representatives including Teresa O’Neill from Bexley Council (far left) and Matt Furniss from Surrey County Council (far right) at the High Court in London on July 4 for their Ulez case
To avoid the £12.50 daily fee for driving in the Ulez area, diesel cars must generally have been first registered after September 2015, while most petrol cars registered after 2005 are also exempt.
READ MORE Is this proof ULEZ restrictions are totally arbitrary? Scottish driver discovers his 2015 diesel Audi is banned in Glasgow but passes emissions test for London
Auto Trader said the biggest price gap across the UK involves a used Volkswagen Golf 2016 model being sold for £3,601 more than a 2015 non-compliant version.
That is an increase of 28 per cent from £9,445 to £13,046.
Similarly, a used Ford Focus from 2016 costs £2,828 more than a 2015 model. This represents a 27 per cent rise, from £7,508 to £10,336.
Other used 2016 models with an apparent premium for Ulez compliance include a Land Rover Epoque (£2,594 more expensive), Nissan Qashqai (£2,220 more expensive) and BMW 3 Series (£1,645 more expensive).
Auto Trader commercial director Ian Plummer said: ‘This is hard evidence of the distortions in the market caused by the Ulez extension.
‘While the overall used car market is in good health nationally, drivers are having to pay a price penalty to follow the rules in London.
‘This doesn’t need to be a case of pocket over planet, it is possible to achieve both – but it’s vital we get the balance right between the carrots and the sticks or we’ll lose people along the way.’
Auto Trader said a number of cheaper petrol options which comply with the rules are available in London, such as a 2007 Vauxhall Astra costing £2,172 and a 2006 Ford Focus priced at £2,250.
Transport for London estimates that more than 200,000 drivers of non-compliant vehicles will be affected by the proposed expansion.
Signage indicates the boundary of the Ulez scheme beside the South Circular Road in London
Separately yesterday, Rishi Sunak sparked a row with Mr Khan after placing the London Mayor in ‘special measures’ for failing to build more homes.
READ MORE Tory Mayor of London hopeful Susan Hall says a ban on new petrol and diesel cars ‘is not going to happen’
In a highly unusual move, the Prime Minister ordered a government review of the Mayor’s multi-decade plan for London, amid concern it fails to address the housing crisis in the capital.
Mr Khan will now be required to work with Housing Secretary Michael Gove to improve the plan. Mr Gove has reserved the right to impose changes in the autumn if the London Mayor fails to deliver significant improvements.
A Government source said the move amounted to Mr Khan being placed in ‘special measures’ over his housing plans, which have delivered barely half the homes needed in the capital.
The review will examine options to ‘accelerate residential development’, particularly on former industrial sites in the inner city.
Mr Sunak said: ‘Labour’s Sadiq Khan has failed to deliver the homes London needs, driving up prices and making it harder for families to get on the housing ladder.
‘So I’m stepping in to boost housebuilding and make home ownership a reality again for Londoners.’
But the approach triggered an angry reaction from the Labour mayor.
Responding on Twitter, Mr Khan said: ‘Are you the same guy who dropped his house building targets?
Protesters against the expansion of Ulez outside BBC Broadcasting House in London on July 22
‘Because I’m the guy who started building more council homes than the rest of England combined, exceeded your affordable homes targets and built more homes of any kind than since the 1930s. This is desperate nonsense.’
Also yesterday, the Tory hopeful taking on Mr Khan to be Mayor of London said a government ban on new petrol cars ‘is not going to happen’.
Susan Hall became the latest senior Conservative to pile pressure on Mr Sunak to drop the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars.
The Government’s target is designed to speed up the switch to electric vehicles as part of efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
But Ms Hall, who will face Mr Khan in the mayoral election next May, told the Spectator that the proposal was not achievable.
She said: ‘I think 2030 is not going to happen. We haven’t got charging points, there are so many issues. It’s an admirable aim, but I don’t think it will work.’
Ms Hall’s comments come after Mr Gove tried to shut down debate about the 2030 timetable this week, saying it was ‘immovable’.
But a government source said the Prime Minister was open to reviewing the target, after warning that net zero ambitions must be pursued in a ‘proportionate and pragmatic way’.
Tory peer Lord Frost said it was time to move away from high-cost policies designed to halt climate change and focus on cheaper measures that will reduce the impact of events such as flooding.
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