Sadiq Khan responds to criticism over the ULEZ expansion

LondonWorld

London mayor Sadiq Khan has been criticised after it emerged that a report on the impact on air quality of the expanded ULEZ will not be published until after the election in May.

Transcript

00:00 We're coming up on the mayoral election and the ULEZ is still going to be a big issue for voters

00:04 but the six month long report which will show, provide the first firm evidence of air quality changes

00:09 as a result of the expansion, that's not going to be released until after the election

00:13 and your opponent has said that you're hiding it on purpose, is that true?

00:17 Well there are pre-election rules. What I do know is that we publish the report one month after ULEZ goes live

00:25 six months afterwards, then twelve months afterwards. There's going to be some peer-to-peer reviews

00:29 so the six months only ended a couple of days ago. That data will now be in by TfL.

00:34 They'll look at the data, they'll obviously make sure there's seasonal adjustments.

00:37 That paper is then reviewed by others. If it's possible to do it before the pre-election period, that's great.

00:43 The pre-election period begins on Monday so I'm not sure where it is.

00:46 We do know though from the one month results that actually we've seen a massive increase

00:51 from 39% of vehicles being compliant, 85% of vehicles being compliant when consultation began,

00:57 95% of vehicles being compliant all across London including outer London.

01:01 That means 19 out of 20 vehicles are now compliant. Not paying a penny more,

01:05 but seeing the benefits of cleaner air. Additionally I've put in some more money

01:10 towards the scrappage scheme. It's now £210 million. There's plenty of money in the scrappage

01:14 scheme. I'd encourage those Londoners who are still driving a non-compliant vehicle to take

01:19 advantage of the scrappage scheme. So you know, let's wait and see.

01:22 Do you regret though that Londoners won't have a chance to look at this evidence before the election?

01:26 Oh of course because the evidence from the past is a massive success. We've seen those who are

01:30 hostile and anti in central London will suddenly convert because of the massive success. With those

01:36 in inner London who are opposite, who are opposed to this including Conservatives, opposed to it.

01:42 Massive success in inner London. I'm confident there'll be massive success in outer London and

01:46 those who were previously cynical or you know opposed to this will be won over. All the evidence

01:52 from the past two schemes is they've been won over. Why not have done a four month on report

01:56 or a five month on report that might have been in time before the pre-election period? I think

02:00 it's because you've got to compare luck with luck but also for the scientists and the experts they

02:03 want six months worth of data but I'm sure you can speak to other experts from you know Imperial

02:09 and Kingston they'll tell you what the right amount of data is.

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