By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A High Court in London on Friday ruled that contentious plans by mayor of the city to extend a scheme which mandates more polluting vehicles to pay a daily charge when driven in the city centre can be implemented with effect from next month.
The British capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) imposes a daily fine of 12.50 pound ($16) on drivers of pollutant vehicles as a means of tackling pollution and improve air quality.
The Labour-backed Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, had last year decided to extend the scheme to cover almost all of the Greater London area.
This will cover at least extra five million people in leafier and less-connected outer boroughs, starting from August 29.
Five affected Conservative-led local authorities argued the decision to expand ULEZ was unlawful.
The court however ruled in favour of the mayor as the Conservative-backed legal challenge failed on Friday.
“This landmark decision is good news as it means we can proceed with cleaning up the air in outer London,” Khan said in a statement following the ruling.
The five local authorities said they were “hugely disappointed” with the decision.
“Although the Mayor of London and Transport for London may have the legal right to implement the scheme, the question remains whether the public would agree he has the moral right to do so,” they said in a joint statement.
The presiding justice, Judge Jonathan Swift rejected all three grounds of challenge to the expansion of ULEZ, including that the public consultation on the proposed expansion was unlawful.
The court also dismissed the councils’ case in relation to Khan’s decision to not extend a 110 million pound vehicle scrappage scheme to those living just outside the expanded ULEZ area.
Britain’s green agenda has been in focus over the past week after the governing Conservative Party won an election in former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s old seat just outside central London, in part by attacking the ULEZ expansion.
The Labour Party’s national leader Keir Starmer, said after that vote that the party, which is well ahead in national polls, should reflect on the scheme’s decisive role in the result.
While Starmer and Khan, who will seek a third four-year term in next year’s mayoral election, are at odds over the policy, it was first introduced by a Conservative – Johnson himself while he was London mayor.
