Revenue raised from CC, T-Charge & ULEZ and reduction in PM pollution
Request ID: FOI-0462-2122 Date published: 28 June 2021
You asked
The Congestion Charge has been operating for almost twenty years and then TfL introduced the T-charge and ULEZ charges.
I would like to request the following information
1. How much has been raised from the combination of the CC, T-Charge and ULEZ charges till 30th May 2021 ?
2. How much reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 has been achieved at all the London pollution monitoring stations ?
Please note I am only requesting information on particle pollution and not any other.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0462-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 4 June 2021.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs) and our information access policy. You asked:
How much has been raised from the combination of the CC, T-Charge and ULEZ charges till 30th May 2021 ?
Anything after 29 July 2020 will be in the next published report.
How much reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 has been achieved at all the London pollution monitoring stations ?
We do not hold air quality monitoring data directly. Real-time air quality data across London is publicly available on the London Air Quality Network (LAQN) at https://www.londonair.org.uk/, which includes more than 100 monitoring sites. An additional 30 sites located across London but not part of the LAQN, are also available on the Air Quality England website at https://www.airqualityengland.co.uk. Both sites provide detailed hourly data for all monitoring sites, as well as yearly aggregated statistics.
In order to compile a single reduction figure across all monitoring sites over the twenty year timeframe you have specified, would require a considerable amount of work. The reason for this is that in order to understand the changes, we would need to undertake detailed analysis at each individual site for particulates in each requested year. We would also need to establish which sites are suitable for comparison in order to determine the changes over time – given the length of time for the request means that the locations and sites would need to be considered carefully in order to make a valid comparison.
Given the extent of the work involved in collating this information, we are applying Regulation 12(4)(b) in accordance with the EIRs, as we believe that the request is ‘manifestly unreasonable’ because providing the information you have requested would impose unreasonable costs on us and require an unreasonable diversion of resources.
The use of this exception is subject to a public interest test, which requires us to consider whether the public interest in applying the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosure. We recognise that the release of information would promote accountability and transparency in public services and also help address your particular concerns about this issue. However, the time it would take to collate and provide the information you have requested would divert a disproportionate amount of our resources from its core functions and on balance we consider that the public interest currently favours the use of the exception.
To help us to respond to your request, you may wish to consider narrowing the scope of the question so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, it would be particularly helpful if you could specify the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a shorter period of time, geographical area or specific departments of TfL.
