Cllr Phil Bibby, executive member for Highways & Transport, Hertfordshire County Council sets out why some local authorities surrounding London are opposed to the expansion of the capital’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).

In just over two weeks hundreds of thousands of motorists living in Hertfordshire and the Home Counties who need their cars to travel into London will find the Mayor of London reaching deep into their pockets as the expanded Ultra-Low Emission Zone comes into effect.

In one of the most blatant acts of taxation without representation, those driving non-compliant cars into the capital now face an extortionate £12.50 a day at a time when most household budgets are at their most squeezed for a generation.

Even in the face of numerous protests, criticism of how statistics have been used by the Mayor’s Office from official bodies and legal action, the Mayor of London is intent on pushing drivers who can least afford it into fiscal freefall.

A carer living in Hertfordshire on the border with London, earning minimum wage would face charges of £62.50 a week simply to get to their clients. Working a sixty-hour week, this equates to 10% of their pre-tax earnings and there is no doubt in my mind, these charges will push some of the lowest paid out of work, out of the productive economy and onto welfare.

While there is broad consensus across the political spectrum that having good clean air, free from pollutants is a good thing, the expansion of the ULEZ in this way and at this time is not the way to achieve this goal and not just because of the eye-watering size of the daily charge or penalties for failure to pay.

That is why I implored the Mayor of London to pause this expansion, and I repeat that call here today.

Hertfordshire, the Home Counties and our residents feel ignored. Despite writing to the Mayor twice to suggest the sensible compromise of redrawing the zone to inside outer London public transport hubs, these pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Due to the lack of engagement by the Mayor of London, we like other counties surrounding the zone will not permit any signage or enforcement cameras to be positioned in Hertfordshire. We cannot and will not be complicit in penalising hard working Hertfordshire residents and businesses, who need to use their vehicles.

It’s time for the Mayor to stand up and do what is right – pause the scheme, redraw the boundary of the zone and start meaningful dialogue with the Home Counties on how we can work together to improve air quality without penalising some of the lowest paid in society. At present, the Mayor claims to be using a carrot and stick approach, but for those living outside the M25, there is a distinct lack of carrot, but an awful lot of stick.

We are not asking for the world; we are simply standing up for our residents and will continue to do so in the face of this outrageous expansion of the ULEZ.

If this article was of interest, then check out, 'Now I am become Uxbridge, destroyer of rational climate discourse'.