London mayor Sadiq Khan wants to introduce an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in April 2019.
Under the scheme, vehicles that do not meet minimum exhaust emissions standards would have to pay a daily charge (£12.50 for cars, vans and motorbikes; £100 for buses, coaches and HGVs) to drive within the existing central London congestion charge area.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan
The scheme is due to start on 8 April 2019. Mr Khan is proposing to expand this charge across Greater London for heavy diesel vehicles, including buses, coaches and lorries, in 2020, and up to the North and South Circular roads for cars and vans in 2021.
He has previously confirmed that the £10 ‘T-Charge’, covering diesel and petrol vehicles manufactured before 2005 that do not meet Euro 4 emissions standards, will start in October this year.
Mr Khan said: ‘The air in London is lethal and I will not stand by and do nothing. Today I’m announcing bold proposals which are critically needed to safeguard Londoners from our air quality health crisis.
‘I am introducing a new T-Charge this October and subject to consultation, I want to introduce the Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London in April 2019. This alone will mean the capital has the toughest emission standard of any world city.’
Mr Khan repeated his call for a national vehicle scrappage fund, the reform of fiscal incentives like vehicle excise duty, and a new Clean Air Act.
This week prime minister Theresa May suggested that the Government would be sympathetic to drivers of diesel vehicles when it publishes its new national air quality plan, a draft of which is due this month.
She said: ‘Decisions will be taken when we produce that plan. But I'm very conscious of the fact that past governments have encouraged people to buy diesel cars and we need to take that into account when we look at what we do in the future.’
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