9 November (Part 1) - ULEZ again
Next on Wednesday’s Agenda was the long delayed (May 2022) ULEZ Motion from Councillor
Cameron Smith. It came from the era when Sadiq Khan was yet to impose his new
tax on movement and the proposed Court challenge by Bexley Council and its allies
had not yet been made.
Councillor Smith said he considered ditching the Motion entirely but instead produced a
new one which the Mayor accepted.
Stefano
Borella (Labour Leader) asked for ten minutes to consider his response to the amended Motion. He
had asked the day before the meeting if he could see the amendment and been
refused which he said made a mockery of the processes. If he had seen it he
would have checked his response to the original Motion which could now
be ruled Out of Order. “If we had been given sight of the alteration we would
not now have to waste ten minutes.”
The Mayor was sympathetic to the request but procedures demanded that the
revised Amendment was first moved and seconded. Cameron began by saying “residents are still being
impacted every day by ULEZ. We owe it to them to talk about it here.”
Councillor Smith went on to tell how an elderly resident had very
recently told him about five ULEZ fines received following hospital visits
which he had expected to be covered by the hospital visit reimbursement scheme. He
was unable without help to get on to the TfL website to appeal.
“Since ULEZ was imposed we have seen Sadiq Khan doubling down on his war on the
motorist. There is to be more road user charging including on Blackwall Tunnel.”
“Every single day 48,500 drivers are charged [under ULEZ] 6,000 of whom don’t pay
and fined. So every single day the Mayor rakes in £1·6 million taken out of
people’s pockets. With little notice in the aftermath of the pandemic during an
energy crisis and when people were feeling the inflationary squeeze the Mayor decided
he should make it harder for people. In the first six months of ULEZ £107
million was taken from them in charges and another £32 million in fines. The
vast majority of households in Bexley have a car but the Mayor claims that only
rich folk drive yet TfL’s own research says that even among people on as little
as £10,000 a year the majority in Outer London have a car. ULEZ was not in the Mayor’s manifesto.”
At a time when pollution was falling steadily “it was a
choice to push the poorer motorists off the road. How long before he tightens
ULEZ to bring more people within its reach? Despite the Mayor’s claim to be
going green only 48 buses in Bexley are electric”
Councillor
Rags Sandhu seconded the Motion and
related once again the sorry tale of a
plumber based in Kent but only three miles from the Council Chamber who could no
longer service his customers in Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.
He had bought a replacement van on finance five years ago but later discovered
it was not ULEZ compliant. The finance early repayment penalty prevented him from buying another.
A specialist cleaning company had a much modified Transit van and had to spend a
total of £26,000 on financing and modifying a replacement.
A number of businesses in the Welling Town Business Association have decided
to give up when their leases come up for renewal because of the reduction in
clientele coming into Outer London and the principal reason is ULEZ. Also their suppliers
have increased delivery charges due to ULEZ.
“Independent businesses are being hugely impacted.” Councillor Sandhu had asked
City Hall how many commercial vehicles from Bexley had been charged or fined
etc. but the Mayor’s office refused to make the number public. However he was
able to discover that Bexley residents had paid £2 million in fines.
This was the point at which an adjournment was agreed. The Mayor said ten
minutes should be enough but definitely no more than 15. However the Labour
Group took just short of 25 minutes to commit their thoughts to paper. It seems
like a good time to pause this report too