Halt ULEZ expansion until Watford residents are helped to switch cars, say Lib Dems

Mayor Peter Taylor and Cabinet Member for Sustainability Cllr Ian Stotesbury have written to Sadiq Khan asking him to phase in the implementation of ULEZ, extend the scrappage scheme to Watford residents and rezone Watford to zone 6 so that residents can save money on public transport

The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) will extend to the borders of Greater London from August 29th and drivers who have a non-compliant vehicle will pay a daily charge of £12.50. This will affect any Watford resident who drives in to London.

In the letter Mayor Taylor and Cllr Stotesbury said:

“Good air quality is an issue which is important to us. However, the expansion of ULEZ so widely, so quickly, without the necessary support to mitigate the impacts is not something we can support.”

They added that:

“By rushing through the ULEZ expansion, many people will be worse off and those who have older cars, most likely to be those with lower incomes, will be hit with expensive daily rates to drive.”

Watford is home to many people who work in London and has stations served by TfL trains. This means that Watford residents are contributing to TfL’s budget but they are not receiving the help to transition to ULEZ compliant cars that Londoners are receiving.

In their letter, Peter Taylor and Ian Stotesbury called for a scrappage scheme, which currently applies only to Londoners, to be extended, and called for rezoning to move Watford into London Transport Zone 6, "so that residents benefit from cheaper fares".

Commenting on the ULEZ expansion, Elected Mayor of Watford Peter Taylor said:

“Good air quality is essential to improve health and schemes like ULEZ have a part to play in tackling this issue. But it is wrong and unfair to bring this in so quickly and expect people to be able to change their car overnight, or move to public transport without investing in it first.

 “It is also unfair that Watford residents, who pay into TfL by using their services to get to work, are not included in Sadiq Khan’s scrappage scheme. The scheme should be extended to Watford residents and Sadiq Khan should finally get around to rezoning Watford to zone 6 so that residents benefit from cheaper fares.”

You can read the full letter by following this link.