Hillingdon Council announced on Friday 13 January that it is joining with Bexley, Bromley and Harrow Councils to demand the evidence on which the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, decided to extend the so-called Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to outer London. A full Hillingdon Council meeting the night before instructed the Cabinet to come up with a plan of action to try and prevent the change coming into operation on the proposed date of Tuesday 29 August.

The extension of the Zone will mean that drivers whose vehicles do not comply with exhaust emission standards will have to pay £12.50 a day while inside the Zone. The Mayor’s advisers reckon that 85% of vehicles in outer London already comply. There will also be a scrappage scheme to help meet the cost of replacing polluting vehicles plus other measures but that has not stopped the dispute over the proposal.  The reasons given by the Mayor for his decision are the high level of deaths in London caused by air pollution, the increasing incidence of asthma and the effects on climate change. Opponents of the Mayor, including both the Conservative and Labour Councillors on Hillingdon Council, protest that now is not the time to make this change because of what people are facing as a result of inflation and also the lack of adequate public transport in outer London.

You can check whether your vehicle complies by using this link.