London ULEZ to expand from October 2021

London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone will expand out to the North and South Circular roads from 25 October 2021, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has confirmed today (8 June).

The new ULEZ will cover an area 18 times larger than the Central London Ultra Low Emission Zone and will affect large numbers of polluting vehicles, City Hall said.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan

The ULEZ is to be introduced in the centre of the city from early 2019, before expanding out to the North and South Circulars in 2021 — and will increase the emissions standards for vehicles operating in the capital.

Charge

Replacing the current T-Charge, the ULEZ would see vehicles that do not meet emission standards liable to incur a daily charge to drive within the zone, ranging from £12.50 for some light vehicles, up to an additional £100 for some heavy goods vehicles which do not meet the Euro VI emissions limit.

Drivers within the expanded zone using non-compliant vehicles will pay a daily ULEZ charge of £12.50, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. These include:
– motorbikes that do not meet Euro 3 standards
– petrol cars and vans that do not meet Euro 4 standards (roughly the equivalent to not being more than fifteen years old for cars in 2021)
– diesel cars and vans that do not meet Euro 6 standards (roughly the equivalent to not being more than six years old for cars in 2021)

Following consultation, the Mayor will also tighten the standards for the most polluting heavy vehicles including buses, coaches and lorries across the whole of London from October 2020, using the same boundary as the existing Low Emission Zone.

Proposed boundary for ULEZ from 2021

Announcing the move today, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Tackling London’s lethal air and safeguarding the health of Londoners requires bold action. Air pollution is a national health crisis and I refuse to stand back as thousands of Londoners breathe in air so filthy that it shortens our life expectancy, harms our lungs and worsens chronic illness.

“I promised hard-hitting measures to tackle our shameful air pollution and today City Hall is confirming the next stage of our plans to expand the Ultra-Low Emission Zone up to the north and south circular roads.

“We’re doing everything in our power to tackle this issue and are starting to see improvements in air quality with the wide-ranging action we’ve taken already on tackling the most polluting cars, and cleaning up our bus and taxi fleet. An expanded Ultra-Low Emission Zone, in conjunction with the Central London ULEZ, will really help transform the air that millions of Londoners breathe.

“Some motorists will need help switching to greener transport options, which is why City Hall are urging Ministers to deliver a diesel scrappage scheme to get the dirtiest cars off our roads and offer drivers a fair deal, especially the many diesel drivers who brought vehicles thinking they were more environmentally friendly after Government advice.”

Support

The public consultation on expanding the ULEZ standards was the largest ever recorded by TfL, City Hall said, adding that it showed ‘staunch’ support for the Mayor’s proposals, with 56% of respondents supporting the expansion of the ULEZ boundary from central London.

Reacting to London mayor Sadiq Khan’s announcement this morning about the city’s upcoming Ultra Low Emission Zone, James Thornton, chief executive of environmental law campaigners ClientEarth, said: “This is a welcome announcement from the Mayor, who has shown he is prepared to take steps to protect Londoners’ health from the city’s toxic air. Political leaders across the UK should take note.

“A stronger, bigger Ultra Low Emission Zone brought in sooner would be key to tackling the illegal and harmful levels of air pollution found across the whole of Greater London. But, as his plans for expansion do not cover outer London, the mayor now needs to show exactly what he is going to do to ensure all Londoners can breathe cleaner air.”