Five Tory-led councils’ High Court challenge against London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Ulez expansion plan has been rejected, giving the green light for the scheme’s extension. The legal setback adds fuel to the already raging civil war within the Labour Party amid a pressing cost of living crisis. Motorists across Greater London can expect to pay a £12.50 daily fee to use their cars if they don’t meet emission standards from August 29th. The Mail has the story:
The ruling by Mr. Justice Swift also follows last week’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip parliamentary by-election, where Labour’s failure to win former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s seat was blamed on concerns from voters around the expansion of Ulez.
Mr. Khan confirmed today that he would now “proceed” with the expansion in 32 days’ time as planned – in defiance of senior Labour figures fearful of the political impact.
The court has not yet said whether there will be grounds to appeal for the councils – with Ulez now set to reach Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, and Surrey.
Giving a summary of his ruling, Mr. Justice Swift said: “I am satisfied that the Mayor’s decision to expand the Ulez area by amendment of the present road charging scheme, rather than by making an entirely new… scheme, was within his powers.”
The judge added that, having “carefully considered” the consultation process, he was satisfied that enough information was given for people who wished to respond to provide “informed responses”.
He also said the consultation on the scrappage scheme was “not in depth”, but was “lawful”.
At a hearing earlier this month, the local authorities’ lawyers argued Mr. Khan lacked the legal power to order the expansion of the zone by varying existing regulations.
Craig Howell Williams KC, for the councils, said there was an “unfair and unlawful” approach to collecting views on the plans and that “key information… was not disclosed” during previous consultations.
The barrister added that plans for a £110 million scheme to provide grants supporting the scrapping of non-Ulez compliant vehicles were also unlawful because a “buffer zone” for “non-Londoners” affected by the extended charging zone was not considered.
But the Mayor’s legal team rejected the bid to quash his November 2022 decision to extend Ulez to all of London’s boroughs, arguing the move was “entirely lawful” and that “ample information” was provided for a “fair consultation”.
Ben Jaffey KC, representing the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) – an interested party in the case – said the “primary objective” of the Ulez expansion was “to improve London’s air quality, in particular reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulates”.
The barrister said Mr. Khan’s decisions “will help to get London’s air quality closer to legal limits, where they are exceeded, and World Health Organisation guideline levels everywhere”.
Reacting to his victory, Mr. Khan said today: “This landmark decision is good news as it means we can proceed with cleaning up the air in outer London on August 29th.
“The decision to expand the Ulez was very difficult and not something I took lightly, and I continue to do everything possible to address any concerns Londoners may have.
“The Ulez has already reduced toxic nitrogen dioxide air pollution by nearly half in Central London and a fifth in Inner London. The coming expansion will see five million more Londoners being able to breathe cleaner air.
“I’ve been listening to Londoners throughout the Ulez rollout, which is why from next week I am expanding the scrappage scheme to nearly a million families who receive child benefit and all small businesses with up to 50 employees. I will continue to look at new ideas to support Londoners.
“Nine out of 10 cars seen driving in outer London on an average day are already compliant so won’t pay a penny – yet will still see the benefits of cleaner air. Air pollution is an urgent public health crisis – our children are growing up with stunted lungs and it is linked to a host of serious conditions, from heart disease to cancer and dementia.
“This unambiguous decision today in the High Court allows us to press on with the difficult but vital task of cleaning up London’s air and tackling the climate crisis.”
Worth reading in full.
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/28/high-court-ruling-in-favour-sadiq-khan-ulez-zone-expansion/
Very sad.
Yet another reason to avoid “The Capital”.
Some of us live her
(and no, I didn’t vote for him)
Tough, leave
“The Ulez has already reduced toxic nitrogen dioxide air pollution by nearly half in Central London and a fifth in Inner London. The coming expansion will see five million more Londoners being able to breathe cleaner air.”. See, it’s only because they care so much for our wellbeing. Surely that’s obvious to everyone now?
O my dear prophet, you misled drunken fool
Nitrogen dioxide in small quantity has never been shown to be toxic, see the NASA study on it, made because the shuttle boosters emitted many many tons of it.
Londoners get what they voted for.
What’s the problem?
Enjoy.
BTW it’s not all bad. Labour will rip themselves to shreds, people will think twice now about the carbon zero nonsense and Khan has probably destroyed his re election chances.
If 90% of cars are already ULEZ compatible,then surely the answer it to target to 10%, not install cameras that check every vehicle including the 90% that are okay.You could get a spreadsheet from DVLA, surely..? No..? Okay,. We see you, and we see what you’re doing…
I can’t say I am surprised by this decision given the obvious complicity of most judges in the Reset. However, handing Khan the freedom to treat London as his personal fiefdom is hardly conducive to societal good. What is absolutely certain is that alot of people are going to be driven in to poverty as a result of this decision. Indirectly of course the judge has actually granted Khan his own personal tax-raising rights reminiscent of the kings of old. A dangerous precedent to set.
It is unlikely that Khan will stop at ULEZ given that a charge per mile program has been mooted.
The drive to impoverish the masses and force them on to Universal Credit and CBDC’s is an explicit part of Agenda 2030 so the charge per mile is now a certainty.
The severe kicking that the WEFfers have taken from Sir Nigel has clearly enraged them and this case has provided the opportunity to kick back.
The very real likelihood now is that these crippling taxation scams will be unleashed across the rest of the country. Sadly, despite much moaning the masses will probably just suck it up.
A depressing outcome all round.
He is there for a reason ! You could put a T on that but can it be treason when he’s a P- Ki at heart ! SH1T house !!!
They’re going to have to sort out London’s borders sooner or later. Councils such as Kent and Buckinghamshire are surely not going to accept London forcing its rules on their territory for much longer.
Boris Johnson, for whom I have very little time after his disastrous time as PM, was an ideal Mayor of London: a jokey character who could sell the image of the city abroad to inspire investment and tourism while leaving the day to day operations to people who generally knew what they were doing. Sadiq Khan is your typical busybody leftist progressivist who wants ‘change’, which is, essentially, forcing himself and his opinions into everyone’s lives.
I arrived in London at the tail-end of Ken Livingstone’s reign, was there throughout the Johnson era and left during Khan’s first term. London changed from being a crime-ridden, stabber’s paradise under Livingstone into a fun place to live under Johnson, into a complete shithole under Khan, with posters ordering you how to behave and activism everywhere.
No wonder so many people are fleeing the place the way people did Sodom and Gomorrah!
with posters ordering you how to behave and activism everywhere
They’ve taken the Looking at women is sexual harassment! posters down again. Probably to silly.
Is there a more insidious character than Khant in the whole UK ( actually yes) anyway the WEF chose well !!
It was London voters who chose him.
Yes and no
He was the Labour candidate- even in an election like this which is quite individual in nature, having the stamp of approval and the campaign machine of a major party is a huge advantage
If 90% of all cars are already compliant, why must these measures be introduced now despite a large increase in so-called average life expectancy occured during times when more than 90% of all cars didn’t meet these emission targets? I also still don’t understand why a license to poison Londoners can be had from the mayor’s at just £12.50 per day. If air quality is such a critical health problem, why is the health of Londoners being sold away so cheaply? Or at all, for that matter.
I have spoken to people whose lives will be ruined by this. It can’t be allowed to happen.
Now it’s war!
God help labour in London
You mean: God protect London from Labour, don’t you?
Surely one person shouldn’t be able to make a decision that affects so many people’s lives? Why was there only one judge?
We seem to a nation that accepts a very high level of P..s taking from our political class. Net Zero and the climate crisis nonsense that will cost us all an arm and a leg. Mass immigration destroying the National Identity and culture. Lockdowns and mask tyranny. Gender, Race Equality and Diversity ideology stuffed down our throats etc etc. But sometimes some of their absurdity just strikes a chord with people and they realise that this is a step too far and that something is simply NOT RIGHT. ——Like the Poll Tax. ———————ULEZ is one of things that just gets backs up and it WILL BE DEFEATED. ——Once it has been defeated we might begin to realise that government will back down on nearly every bit of crap they come away with. People have more power than they realise and if they don’t want men in their daughters toilet then that is what will happen.
If it was about air quality, there would make it illegal for a non-compliant vehicle to enter the Greater London area.
But pay up £12.50 a day and you’re free to pollute the air as much as you like for 24 hours.
Do they really think we can’t work out what this is about? Of course not …. but they don’t care – they’re delivering the WEF’s Agenda.
Democracy is dead in the UK. And it never really got started on the continent.
It would be helpful if it was generally realised that (a) air pollution is at an all- time low, (b) measurements taken are mostly from areas of extreme congestion, often caused by imposition of bus lanes, “traffic calming” and all the rest; (c) there is weak evidence that NOx and pm2.5s are hazardous anyway. See the US EPA’s fraudulent “six cities” study.
The object of all this is to impoverish and control the plebs and hopefully boost TfL’s income stream.
The legal result was predictable. And it will be difficult to sort it out at the ballot box when every ‘mainstream’ political party has supported it in the past and when huge numbers of the denizens of the Great Wen are grateful to those ‘mainstream’ parties for sending the RNLI and Border Force to help them cross the Channel.
Parliamentarism is not democracy, that’s just a label it likes to employ for itself.
Roll on 2nd May 2024, an opportunity for an independent?
https://twitter.com/alanvibe/status/1685170229721055232?s=20
Having just watched David Lammy being confronted on air by a guy who is at his wits end, because he has only 200 pounds left at the end of the month, and that will now go on ULEZ,Lammy if anyone has seen this clip has been on the latest politician training course, which is how to turn the victim into the bad person. Once you have seen them do it you cannot unsee it.
Lammy first of all tackles the underlings problem by telling them there is a scrapage scheme, the man replies thats 2k, my car is worth 6k, notice Lammy does not provide solution as to how the man will afford an electric car/replacement, presumably he will just have to walk and carry his tools etc. The Man who has remonstrated is then told by Lammy and this is the masterpiece stroke of the course. Lammy calls upon the memory of the little girl who died from Asthma, which was contributed to by Londons dirty air, he then asks would you prefer (i paraphrase) your child to die from Asthma or keep your car, so the man who is at his wits end because of ULEZ and wonders how he will look after his family is the bad guy, Lammy and his ilk are our noble caring saviours.
I so wish I had been on the call because I would have called Lammy out, and I would have pointed out that ULEZ is about getting people out of cars, in order to meet the Elites 2030 objectives, I would have asked him who his sponsor is, because he isn’t about helping working people to better lives, he is about holding them down and blaming them such that he and his fellow Lords and Knights can receive pats of well done from the EU, NATO and the WEF members who the world is being organised for. Litlle Girl with Asthma! the man couldn’t give a stuff about other people or their children who cannot benefit his career and life.
Thanks for this.
You go to work everyday to pay your bills and feed your family. You buy yourself a vehicle that you think you can afford with your hard earned money and blithering idiot politicians like Lammy (but he is not alone) will outlaw that vehicle in their crusade to pretend to save the planet by 2030 because a UN and WEF agenda has told them to do that. ——But it is UK citizens these buffoons are supposed to serve, not the One World Government people at the UN.
Khan must close the Tube now, pollution levels underground are several times the legal limit! That is the way to attack back!
If any more proof were needed to show how we are being, scammed, ripped off, robbed, and lied to by our apparently elected ‘public servants‘, take a look at this oh-so-simple experiment.
Why can’t the authorities who are continuously stealing from us, carry out a bit of simple research like this before committing billions of our cash to hair-brain schemes like ULEZ? [rhetorical] Oh, I know why, silly me.
Genghis and his ilk must go. There must be a prison cell awaiting them all somewhere.
https://youtu.be/n01GckFEkck