Drivers in Croydon and South London’s other outer boroughs will have to pay the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) charge in their neighbourhoods for the first time next August.
Croydon is included in an expansion of the low-emission zone, where the most polluting cars will have to pay £12.50 a day.
Conservative MP Elliot Colburn said he was ”very, very angry” with the decision in a video filmed in his Carshalton and Wallington constituency.
He added: “This means those with older cars will be paying £12.50 every single day that they use their car.
“Frankly this is a disgusting move. I am absolutely appalled that the mayor has ignored the views and wishes of the overwhelming majority of Londoners that took part in the consultation and the thousands that have signed petitions.”
In the updated ULEZ map two roads in Croydon will not be impacted by the change. This is part of Featherbed Lane up to the junction with Gravel Hill and Godstne Road up to Purley Hill.
The plans also include two new bus routes in Sutton, with improved service to Royal Marsden Hospital’s cancer hub.
The announcement was made this morning and follows a public consultation which ran between May and July, in which 59 per cent of respondents agreed that more was needed to be done to tackle toxic air, according to City Hall.
However, this figure has been contested by political opponents, citing an investigation in The Telegraph which showed that 66 per cent of respondents were opposed to ULEZ expansion.
Assembly member for Croydon, Neil Garratt, tweeted about what he called the “ULEZ scandal”.
He said: “The official results have been released: about 60 per cent oppose Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ expansion. It increases to 68 per cent when you exclude organised responses.
“Sadiq Khan should now u-turn on his plans, and we must open the consultation to public scrutiny.”
A scrappage scheme is set to be rolled out, which will include the option to get up to two annual bus and tram passes.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “Expanding the ULEZ London-wide has not been an easy decision.
“The easy thing for me would have been to kick the can down the road. But in the end, public health comes before political expediency.
“We have too often seen measures delayed around the world to tackle air pollution and the climate crisis because it’s viewed as being too hard or politically inconvenient.
“But there’s no time to waste when people’s lives are on the line and we are facing a climate crisis.
“As mayor, I’m not willing to turn a blind eye because it’s clear the cost of inaction – to our economy, to livelihoods, to the environment and the health of Londoners – would be a far too high a price to pay.”
Pictured top: ULEZ sign (Picture: James Mayer)
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