Following last week’s story in Highways News that reported on the health benefits of London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), the BBC, three years after the scheme expanded across the capital, has investigated how the widedned zone has affected businesses and residents on the scheme’s borders. Strong feelings remain, it seems, although many have adapted.

ULEZ expanded to cover all London boroughs on 29 August 2023, placing areas such as Dartford and Swanley in Kent, and Epsom and Staines in Surrey on the edge of the zone. Businesses on both sides of the border described the difficulties some customers faced from the £12.50 daily charge and said complaints remain.

Transport for London (TfL) acknowledged frustration outside London and said it had wanted to extend its scrappage scheme beyond the capital, but funding was not available. Among those interviewed by the BBC, Pam Manwaring, a director of Orchard Garage in Dartford, said customers still complained and people living near the London boundary had few alternatives to driving.

She said the garage, outside the Ulez zone, saw a boost initially because people didn’t want to pay the charge, but three years on, it had “levelled out”.

Manwaring said people in Dartford were paying the charge but not benefitting from the clean air that it was supposed to bring, adding:

“The Dartford tunnel and the crossing is an absolute nightmare. The traffic is getting worse, it’s bad every day, so we get even more pollution and we get the congestion.

“You haven’t got an option around here, people have to use their cars.”

TflL’s Head of transport policy, Lucy Hayward-Speight, said:

“I do understand the frustration of people outside of London where they don’t have access to as good public transport.

“I know that lots of efforts are being made to improve public transport across the country now and with the new £2 bus fare, hopefully that is going to encourage further bus use across the country and going to increase the amount of bus availability.”

She said there was an extensive rail network in and out of London and buses were also available.

Last week, researchers said they had been “stunned” by how quickly children’s lungs had begun to recover after Ulez was introduced.

A study of more than 3,400 children in London and Luton was described as the strongest evidence yet that local clean-air zones can reduce harm caused by pollution.

“It’s a scheme that saved lives, it’s a pioneering scheme and we’re really proud of it in London,” Hayward-Speight said.

(Picture: London Borough of Croydon)