London, July 28 (AFP\/APP): The High Court in London ruled Friday that contentious plans by the city’s mayor to extend a scheme requiring more polluting vehicles to pay a daily charge when driven can go ahead next month.<\/p>\n
The court rejected a challenge by five Conservative-led councils in and around London that Labour’s Sadiq Khan had acted unlawfully with his politically charged expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).<\/p>\n
The scheme — first introduced in 2019 and separate from the capital’s two-decades-old congestion charge — requires the most polluting vehicles to pay a \u00a312.50 ($16) toll on days they are driven within inner London.<\/p>\n
Its extension to all of Greater London from August 29 has prompted a fierce backlash from many living in and around the newly encompassed areas, who face fines of up to \u00a3160 for each day they fail to pay.<\/p>\n
It was widely blamed for costing the main opposition Labour party victory in a by-election last week in former prime minister Boris Johnson’s old parliamentary seat.<\/p>\n
That surprise result has prompted fears both the Conservatives and Labour could roll back on climate change mitigation commitments that may prove costly to voters, amid the UK’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.<\/p>\n
Khan, 52, insists the bigger ULEZ will help improve London’s “toxic air pollution”, which causes thousands of annual deaths and life-changing illnesses.<\/p>\n
The five Tory councils had challenged the legality of his plans on three grounds, including that he had failed to provide sufficiently clear information during a consultation on the expansion.<\/p>\n
But judge Jonathan Swift, who weighed the evidence after two days of High Court hearings earlier this month, rejected their arguments.<\/p>\n
“The councils’ challenge fails on all three grounds and is dismissed,” he wrote at the end of an 18-page ruling detailing his decision.<\/p>\n
Khan, who has faced pressure from within his own party to pause his plans, described the judgement as a “landmark decision”.
\nHe vowed to press ahead with the expansion on August 29 as planned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London, July 28 (AFP\/APP): The High Court in London ruled Friday that contentious plans by the city’s mayor to extend a scheme requiring more polluting vehicles to pay a daily charge when driven can go ahead next month. The court rejected a challenge by five […]<\/p>\n
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