Boris Johnson announced earlier this week that he would begin steps to suspend phase three of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ), which had been due to begin in October 2010. The move comes as part of our Mayor’s attempts to give businesses a boost in these troubling times for the economy.
Despite all the talk of green issues and the economy being intrinsically linked, when it comes down to it, those in government are ready to sacrifice the environmental side of things.
Phase three of the LEZ was due to include smaller vehicles such as vans and minibuses. By suspending its implementation, the Mayor believes he can help small businesses in London. He sees them as the main group that would have been affected (the LEZ was never designed to target the average car-driving Londoner).
Phases one and two of the LEZ, which will remain in place, focus on larger vehicles such as buses, coaches and lorries. Owners have to ensure that their vehicles meet certain emissions standards, or face significant fines for driving in much of the Greater London area.
Given that the EU has recently given us (and London in particular) a dressing down over PM10 levels, and is preparing to take legal proceedings against Britain, the Mayor’s plans seem rather short-sighted. The Mayor himself states: “the Low Emission Zone has been successful in tackling the worst polluters”.
We are going to have to further improve our air pollution levels at some point. At the moment, there does not seem to be anything in the works to make up the shortfall in PM10 reduction that the expansion of the LEZ would have achieved.
Photo by wetwebwork on Flickr, published under a Creative Commons license.
