The fight against pollution… and social media dirty tricks
London’s fight against pollution, with the spread of Ultra Low Emissions Zones (ULEZ) throughout the capital, is being met, as in other cities, with strong opposition with a tendency to not play fair.
On August 29 this year, London’s Mayor, Labour’s Sadiq Khan, expanded the ULEZ to all 32 London boroughs, putting some five million more people within it.
This now makes London’s policies the most radical in the world, as befitted the importance of the public health problem facing the city: government data show that air pollution causes between 28,000 and 36,000 premature deaths across the country each year, with around 4,000 of these in London. A growing number of studies show that living in polluted areas reduces lifespan even more than smoking, and that pollution affects everybody, including those without cars, which in London is almost half the population.
What does the scheme consist of? Essentially, preventing the most polluting vehicles (motorcycles that do not meet the Euro 3 standard, petrol cars and vans that do not meet the Euro 4 standard, and diesel cars and vans that do not meet the Euro 6 standard, i.e. vehicles generally pre-dating 2007, 2006 or 2015 respectively) from entering ULE zones unless they pay a toll of £12.50 per day, which is in addition to the £15 London Congestion…
