Support for Low Emission Zone

Commenting on a letter from the Mayor replying to a recent submission on the Low Emission Zone consultation, Simon Birkett, Principal Contact for the cross-party Campaign for Clean Air in London, said today:“The Mayor deserves credit for taking the first steps in the United Kingdom to reduce air pollution by tackling congestion and traffic emissions. Painful though it may be, road pricing and emission controls are necessary in London if the health and quality of life of those who live in, work in and visit London are to be protected.“We need to bear in mind that over 1,000 people died in London in 2005 from one form of air pollution alone (PM10) which is more than four times the number who died in road traffic accidents. Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody, Chairman of The Transport Select Committee, said this week that the Government must make air quality a priority. The Committee’s annual report expressed dismay at the Department for Transport’s lack of success in improving air quality. “The western extension of the Congestion Charge zone is a painful but necessary next step by the Mayor towards achieving World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended standards of air quality throughout London. We should encourage the Mayor to go further and faster by introducing a much more ambitious Low Emission Zone following, if necessary, a further or parallel public consultation. We should also encourage the Mayor to introduce a more sophisticated road pricing scheme, using a “tag and beacon” system rather than costly spy-in-the-sky satellites, that would allow congestion and air pollution to be targeted precisely without the blunt instrument of congestion charging that damages small businesses, makes short, non-peak hour journeys expensive and triggers rat-running through residential streets along its boundaries.