Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ plan is lawful, UK High Court rules

The High Court has ruled that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan can continue his planned expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone. The controversial ULEZ will swallow most of the geography within the M25 London Orbital.

It’s a blow to the five councils that mounted the legal challenge, since they’ll now be forced to implement the ANPR cameras and enforce fines for drivers using non-compliant vehicles.

The ULEZ requires that all residents and visitors in the zone drive vehicles compliant with Euro 4 (petrol) or Euro 6 (diesel) regulations. If they don’t, they have to pay a daily charge of £12.50. Unlike the Congestion Charge zone, it doesn’t only apply if you drive into the zone – residents are also liable for the charge.

The idea is to incentivise all drivers to ditch cars that don’t meet stricter carbon emissions output. Euro 4 emissions for petrol cars were introduced as far back as 2005 though, so the compliant cars aren’t exactly ‘young’.

However, dissident councils are the outer London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon, and Surrey county council. They argued that the Mayor of London had overstepped his powers and had failed to provide adequate consultation for residents in their regions, regarding implementation and the scrappage scheme for residents relinquishing their non-compliant motors.

Mr Justice Swift dismissed the challenge, stating that the proposed expansion was legally sound.

A statement from the Mayor's office said: “The decision to expand the ULEZ London-wide was difficult and not something [Mr Khan] takes lightly - and he continues to do everything possible to address concerns Londoners may have.

"The ULEZ is a highly targeted scheme aimed at taking the most polluting vehicles off the roads. Nine out of ten cars seen driving regularly in outer London on an average day are already ULEZ compliant and will not pay a penny when the zone expands, while still benefitting from cleaner air.”

Khan repeated his criticism of the five councils, choosing to ‘waste public money fighting a clean air policy’. Estimated costs top more than £1 million, according to the Mayor’s office.