London ultra-low emission zone: Teachers and green groups welcome scheme amid fears for small businesses

London’s “world-leading” new ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) has been launched in a bid to tackle the city’s deadly levels of air pollution by keeping the highest-emitting vehicles out of the city centre.

While the scheme has been welcomed by schools and green groups, some have expressed concerns about the impact the new charges will have on small businesses and charities.

Under the new rules, older models of cars and vans will be charged £12.50 to enter central London at any time of day, throughout the entire year.

Transport for London has estimated this initial phase, which comes ahead of a wider expansion in 2021, will cut toxic emissions for the capital’s road transport by 45 per cent in two years.

However, Sue Terpilowski, the London policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, said while she recognised the importance of tackling pollution, the launch “spells disaster” for many businesses.

With many Londoners dependent on vehicles operating across the city for their livelihoods, she warned that mayor Sadiq Khan’s rapid rollout of the scheme will come with harmful side-effects of its own.

“The cost of doing business in the capital is already high which is forcing many small businesses to re-evaluate their business activity,” she said.

“Small businesses are suffering due to lethal cocktail of increasing business rates, higher employment charges.”

Eddie Curzon, the London director of the Confederation of British Industry, agreed that while Ulez was a positive step “smaller firms can struggle to afford the switch to low-emission vehicles”.

Air pollution has been implicated in thousands of premature deaths across the country every year, and children are particularly susceptible to its effects.

Recent studies have shown children attending schools in the most polluted parts of the capital are growing up with stunted lungs due to exposure to harmful gases.

While the Ulez was initially proposed by former mayor Boris Johnson, Mr Khan decided to bring it forward by a year and push for a wider application that will see the zone stretch to the north and south circular roads by October 2021.

Greater London Authority Conservative group leader Gareth Bacon criticised this move, saying it would hit poorer motorists hardest and had “caught small businesses and charities on the hop”.

However, Mr Khan said it was important to make progress in tackling the city’s pollution, which he said “disproportionately affects the most vulnerable Londoners”.

Transport for London is running a scrappage scheme intended to help small businesses and charities currently reliant on high-polluting vans and minibuses to switch for cleaner models.

In a letter written to the mayor to mark the scheme’s introduction, the heads of 30 schools across London welcomed the Ulez, and called for even more stringent action.

“Protecting our pupils’ welfare is not just one of our key duties but should also be an overriding priority for wider society,” they wrote.

Clean air zones have consistently been recognised as one of the most effective ways of cutting harmful particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide gas in city centres.

Environmental lawyers ClientEarth, who have successfully taken the government to court over the country’s illegal air pollution levels, said the mayor “deserves credit for bringing in one of the most ambitious polices in Europe to tackle air pollution”.

“The Ulez is essential if we are to clean up London’s dirty and illegal air and protect people’s health,” said Simon Alcock, the group’s head of public affairs.

However, he also noted there needed to be more help from the government for people to move towards cleaner transport.