The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called for a new targeted scrappage scheme to help people in the Home Counties to retrofit or replace vehicles that are not compliant with the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
Mayor Khan has already introduced a £110m scrappage fund to help Londoners comply with the requirements of the ULEZ. Yesterday he asked the Prime Minister to double this to help people in the Home Counties retrofit or replace vehicles.
In his letter to the PM, the mayor pointed out that Greater Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and Bradford all received funding from Government for their own scrappage schemes.
‘Following an order by the Supreme Court to tackle the illegal levels of air pollution across the country, the Government has been working with other cities and regions to introduce clean air zones,’ he wrote.
‘This has included some national support for local scrappage schemes, including in Greater Manchester (£120m), Bristol (£42m), Birmingham (£38m) and Bradford (£30m). But London and the home counties, including Surrey and Kent, have not received even a penny of support from central Government.
‘London, the South East and the East of England make net contributions to the Treasury every year and Londoners pay £500m of vehicle excise yearly, which is then spent on maintaining roads in other parts of the country. For our regions to pay in so much and not be helped to reduce carbon emissions and make our air safer to breathe is unfair and doesn’t make sense.’
The mayor’s call follows the news last week that five Conservative councils launched a judicial review against Transport for London (TfL) and London mayor Sadiq Khan over the expansion of the ULEZ to outer London boroughs.
