Request ID: FOI-1036-2122 Date published: 08 September 2021
You asked
How many people were involved in public consultations and how public consultation is reflection of 7M people living in London?
Out of how many requests 37000 responses were received?Again how these responses reflect and represent 7M people living in London?
Where one can obtain A full Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA)?
What are the benefits of extended ULEZ to Londonders?How many less people will die because of the lower air pollution?
Please provide cost benefit analyses for the expansion of ULEZ?
How much money TfL and Mayor’s office expect to make on annual basis as a result of expanded ULEZ?
Please provide a plan how every penny collected through expanded ULEZ zone will be invested in London’s quality of air?
How much money is paid by TfL and Mayor's office for the contract to administer cameras?
How non payment of ULEZ is enforced?Pleaseprovide a legislation used for the enforcement of non payment of ULEZ?
We answered
Our ref: FOI-1036-2122/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 16 August 2021 asking for information about ULEZ.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.
How many people were involved in public consultations and how public consultation is reflection of 7M people living in London? Out of how many requests 37000 responses were received? Again, how these responses reflect and represent 7M people living in London? Please see consultation report for full details https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/environment/air-quality-consultation-phase-3b/
Where one can obtain A full Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA)? This is available on the TfL consultation hub https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/environment/air-quality-consultation-phase-3b/ the IIA is within Appendices J and K. Please note: Our consultations are moving to a new website. From 17 May 2021 all new consultations can be found on our new digital engagement platform Have your say. This current website will close on 30 September 2021. From 30 September 2021 information about our previous consultations will be available on our new website. What are the benefits of extended ULEZ to Londoners? How many less people will die because of the lower air pollution? A recent study from Imperial College London, commissioned by City Hall, found that in 2019 more than 4,000 Londoners died due to the impact of toxic air. This includes deaths from all causes including respiratory, lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
The Mayor’s world-leading action means almost 300,000 fewer Londoners suffering diseases attributable to air pollution such as heart disease, lung cancer and dementia, more than one million hospital admissions avoided over the next 30 years and savings to the NHS of almost £5 billion. These positive effects will be especially beneficial to the young, older people and those who have respiratory problems, as well as residents of high pollution areas.
Independent research into the effects of the Mayor’s air quality programme shows that the ULEZ expansion in combination with the Mayor’s other air quality policies will reduce the exposure gap between the most and least deprived areas by 71 per cent and between the areas with highest and lowest proportion of BAME residents by up to 85 per cent.
Research from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has shown that cleaner air could boost the UK economy by £1.6 billion per year. Improving air quality in London would provide an economic benefit of almost £500 million per year to the local economy. The ULEZ expansion is vital to achieving the compliance with legal limits for air pollution and will set us on track for meeting the more stringent health-driven World Health Organization guidelines. Londoners have responded positively to the central ULEZ, contributing to its success. In the first 10 months of the scheme (before the pandemic), the central London ULEZ had already delivered significant air quality benefits, including contributing to a 44 per cent reduction in harmful roadside NO2 in the zone and helping to reduce the number of state schools in areas exceeding the legal limits for NO2 by 97 per cent.
However, 24 per centof roads in inner London still exceed legal limits for NO2 and 99 per cent of London still exceeds the WHO recommended limits for PM2.5, which is thought to be the air pollutant which has the greatest impact on human health. There is also emerging evidence linking air pollution with an increased vulnerability to the most severe impacts of COVID-19.
We’ve proved that emissions-based charging works, but there is more still to do. We now need to build on this success to deliver cleaner air for millions more Londoners.
By the end of 2021, following the introduction earlier this year of tighter LEZ standards for buses, coaches, lorries and other heavy vehicles Londonwide and after ULEZ is expanded, 92 per cent of roads in London will comply with legal limits for NO2. The remaining roads will be dealt with by targeted, local measures.
We predict that with the expanded ULEZ, over 100,000 fewer people in London will be living with illegal levels of air pollution by the end of 2021 than would otherwise be the case, with continued improvements in later years. Also that NO2 concentrations along most roads within the zone will drop by 3 – 5 micrograms/m3 (about 5 to 10 per cent) and along larger more strategic roads, including the boundary roads, NO2 concentrations will drop by up to 10 or even 15 micrograms/m3 (about a 20 per cent reduction).
Real experience with the central London ULEZ shows that Londoners are willing and able to change their travel habits or their vehicles, which gives us additional confidence that the benefits of the scheme will be realised in practice The expanded ULEZ will cover an area 18 times larger than the central ULEZ. 3.8 million people live within the expanded zone, but 6 in 10 households in the expanded zone do not own a car. Londoners are already doing their bit, with four out of five cars seen driving in the zone already meeting the ULEZ emissions standards. We now need the owners of the remaining older polluting cars, motorcycles, lighter vans and minibuses to take action because every Londoner should have the right to breathe clean air.
Please provide cost benefit analyses for the expansion of ULEZ? The cost benefit analysis that was done in the Business Case shows a Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of 2.03:1
How much money TfL and Mayor’s office expect to make on annual basis as a result of expanded ULEZ? In its first year, total income from the central ULEZ was £149.1 million and operating costs were £82.5 million, producing a surplus of £66.6 million. It is expected that in the first 12 months following the expansion of the ULEZ total income for the scheme will be £802.4 million with operating costs of £243.2 million for a surplus of £559.2 million. It is expected that the income generated will reduce as the policy has the desired effect of taking the most harmful and polluting vehicles off the road.
The Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion and the Mayor’s other air quality policies will save the NHS almost £5 billion over next 30 years. The Mayor’s world-leading action means almost 300,000 fewer Londoners suffering diseases attributable to air pollution such as heart disease, lung cancer & dementia.
Research from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has shown that cleaner air could boost the UK economy by £1.6 billion per year. Improving air quality in London would provide an economic benefit of almost £500 million per year to the local economy. Please provide a plan how every penny collected through expanded ULEZ zone will be invested in London’s quality of air? The expansion of the ULEZ is not about making money, but rather about improving the health and wellbeing of millions of Londoners. In his first term the Mayor invested hundreds of millions of pounds on his air quality programme and every penny received from the ULEZ will be reinvested into improving the transport network – including its roads, cycleways, buses and tube – and making London’s air cleaner.
On 11 January 2021, TfL released its Financial Sustainability Plan which focuses on a green recovery and sets out how it can achieve financial sustainability after fare income was decimated by the pandemic – covering costs of day-to-day operations, maintenance and financing by 2023/24. You can read more about its plans here: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/financial-sustainability-plan-11-january-2021.pdf.
How much money is paid by TfL and Mayor's office for the contract to administer cameras? We do not operate a separate, dedicated network of ULEZ cameras because, depending on their location, all our cameras can be used to operate all Road User Charging (RUC) schemes. While the cameras located in the central London zone were originally installed to monitor and enforce the Congestion Charge (CC) they now cover all RUC schemes.
Cameras located outside the central London zone currently cover Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and Direct Vision Standard (DVS) and will also be used to monitor and enforce the expanded ULEZ zone. We are also installing a further 750 cameras within the expanded ULEZ zone, which will also be used to monitor and enforce LEZ and DVS.
The new cameras will become part of the wider RUC camera network and will be incorporated into existing operating and maintenance contracts and the cost of camera maintenance in 2021/22 is estimated to be £6 million.
Section 295 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (GLA Act, as amended) gives TfL the power to create road user charging schemes in Greater London. Schedule 23 of the GLA Act sets out detailed legal provisions. The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) and London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) are road user charging schemes and are established under the Greater London Low Emission Zone Charging Order 2006 (2006 Order). This 2006 Order contains a road user charging scheme called the London Emissions Zones Charging Scheme (‘the Scheme’) - this is contained in the Schedule to the 2006 Order. This Scheme originally only covered the LEZ (established in in 2006) but it was amended and renamed in 2015 to incorporate the ULEZ alongside the LEZ.
The GLA Act stipulates that a charging scheme must be contained in an order – which effectively sets out the rules which apply to the LEZ and ULEZ. Details of the required contents of a scheme order are contained in Schedule 23 which stipulates that a charging scheme must:
Designate the area to which it applies
Specify the classes of motor vehicles in respect of which a charge is imposed
Designate those roads in the charging area in respect of which a charge is imposed, and
Specify the LEZ and ULEZ charges imposed.
Specify the level of penalty charges for non-payment of daily LEZ or ULEZ charge where a non-compliant vehicle is driven in the zone.
Two sets of Government regulations apply to the enforcement of the ULEZ and LEZ. They cover et out the procedures for the enforcement and adjudication of road user charging schemes in Greater London under Schedule 23 to the Greater London Authority Act 1999. They cover requirements relating to the notification, adjudication and enforcement of penalty charges, the determination of disputes, appeals against determinations, the appointment of persons to hear any such appeals and the admissibility of evidence in proceedings under Schedule 23. They are the:
Road User Charging (Charges and Penalty Charges) (London) Regulations 2001/ No. 2285
Road User Charging (Enforcement and Adjudication) (London) Regulations 2001/ No. 2313
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours faithfully
Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
