Request ID: FOI-0520-2324 Date published: 12 June 2023
You asked
Please provide minutes of all meetings where setting the extended ULEZ fee/fine for non-compliant cars was discussed, to include reference to any research on incentivising changing of cars to compliant cars, or disincentivising car journeys. Or if the figure was reached at with a specific revenue in mind (revenue wanted divided by non-compliant fines = ULEZ fine).
To determine whether the objective of extending ULEZ was to generate revenue or improve air quality by reducing non-compliant car journeys.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0520-2324 Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 20th May 2023 asking for information about the ULEZ charge. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. Specifically you asked: “How £12.50 ULEZ charge was decided upon: Please provide minutes of all meetings where setting the extended ULEZ fee/fine for non-compliant cars was discussed, to include reference to any research on incentivising changing of cars to compliant cars, or disincentivising car journeys. Or if the figure was reached at with a specific revenue in mind (revenue wanted divided by non-compliant fines = ULEZ fine). To determine whether the objective of extending ULEZ was to generate revenue or improve air quality by reducing non-compliant car journeys.” For an explanation of how the £12.50 charge was determined please see the answer to this similar, recent request published on the FOI pages of our website here: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/foi-request-detail?referenceId=FOI-0233-2324 As you can see, this includes a link to the Report to the Mayor for the Central London ULEZ, published in March 2015, which sets out the rationale for the charge level. In respect to your request for “minutes of all meetings”, this is being refused under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Under section 12, TfL is not obliged to provide information if it would cost more than £450 to determine if that information is held, and to then locate, retrieve or extract it from elsewhere. This is calculated at a rate of £25 per hour, equivalent to 18 hours work. The exemption applies in this instance because there is no quick or efficient way of finding all of the information that will fall within the scope of your request. As you can see from the previous response shown above, the setting of the £12.50 charge dates back to the original ULEZ scheme, which was consulted on in 2014, with the report to the Mayor shown above published the following year. The ULEZ scheme began in 2019 and was subsequently extended in 2021, and is to be extended further in August of this year. To try and find the minutes of all meetings where the fee was discussed, and whether it should be retained or amended for the expansions, would require a trawl of records covering at least a 9 year period, if not longer. This is not possible within the costs limit. However, I hope that the links above that explain why the fee was set at £12.50 satisfies your interest in the matter. Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed. Yours sincerely, David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
