In response to questioning by Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson at today’s Mayor’s Questions, Boris Johnson said he was considering an inner London Very Low Emission Zone, perhaps based upon the congestion charge area.
If applied to black cabs, it could restrict over half of the London taxi fleet from travelling into central London, without serious modification. Darren asked the Mayor a series of questions about black cabs and air pollution, as they are responsible for over a fifth of all particulate pollution (PM10s) in central London.
Darren Johnson commented:
"The Mayor took a big backward step on air pollution when he stopped the six monthly inspections of black cabs, so he now needs to take an even bigger step forward if he wants to deal with the problem of London’s dreadful air quality. A heavy fine aimed at deterring the most polluting black cabs and lorries from travelling into central London is an essential step towards protecting Londoners’ health."
Notes for editors
Darren Johnson asked: "What about idea of very low emission zone in central London, which was one of the ideas put forward by the Environment Committee. You have agreed that buses running in the central London hotspots will be low emission, or zero emission, why not extend that to black cabs and insist that taxis in central London meet lower emission standards than the rest of London."
London mayor responded: "The interesting thing is that we are looking at that, seeing what we can do. What you could do, is to see if the congestion charge zone could be a utensil. It would be difficult to make work. We are looking at that. There are technical difficulties, I’m told, but we could certainly try it."
2) The cross party, London Assembly response (Dec 2009) to the mayor’s Assembly consultation draft of the Air Quality Strategy said:
http://www.london.gov.uk/archive/assembly/reports/environment/interim-response-to-mayor-clearing-the-air.rtf
"To advance the debate and enable an assessment of the merits of local, inner and London-wide LEZ approaches, we recommend that the analysis of the costs and benefits of these schemes be published, including the costs to Londoners of replacing or retrofitting vehicles. This should include the feasibility of adopting schemes such as those operating in Germany, which do not require expensive infrastructure."