Caroline Pidgeon is on a mission to prevent Londoners’ health being harmed by pollution on the capital’s streets. She has just unveiled a pretty radical plan for the congestion charge, raising it for all vehicles and even more for diesel vehicles. Also, she wants to have a peak-time charge.
From the Guardian:
A new report by the party’s mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon recommends a rise in the daily charge collected by automated payment from the current £10.50 to £13 with a higher automated charge of £19 on vehicles entering the zone “at the height of the rush hour” in order to deter traffic from entering the centre of the city.
In what Pidgeon describes as a potential “game changer” in tackling London’s high levels of air pollution she would also slap an additional flat-rate of £2.50 on all diesel-powered vehicles subject to the charge, claiming that this would bring forward the benefits of the forthcoming Ultra Low Emission Zone, which is not scheduled to be activated until 2020.
She argues that these measures recognise an increase in congestion levels in recent years and that differential pricing would reflect variations in the degree of congestion at different times of day. Although Pidgeon’s definition of the rush hour peak would be kept under review she anticipates that the higher charge rate would initially apply between 7:00 and 9:30 in the morning and between 4:00 and 6:00 in the evening.
Caroline said:
Congestion is not just a huge inconvenience but also damaging to people’s health.
It creates a huge economic bill for businesses due to delays, longer delivery times and staff arriving late for work.
Now more than ever we need to face up to the implications of London’s growing population and that must mean using the Congestion Charge in a far smarter way.
Tackling London’s air pollution must also mean tough action against diesel vehicles. Using the Congestion Charge to deter diesel vehicles from central London could be a game changer in tackling air pollution in London.
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5 Comments
Brave proposals. She probably needs to make some commitment to also freeze bus and tube fares for at least a year or two, otherwise there is a danger that it’s just clobbering travel to work for cash.
Could she manage to finish third? That would be quite an achievement given what has happened in the past 12 months or so.
Are we even targetting doing well in the South West seat, to build a foundation for winning back Kingston, (Richmond Park) and Twickenham? That would help boost Caroline’s vote – but as a local member I see no sign of it.
I don;t really regard a price increase and the introduction of rush hour charging as being particularly radical.
Being radical I would suggest might involve removing or massively reducing the resident and blue badge discounts for cars that are not ultra low emissions. Reducing the 100% discount on ultra low emission vehicles – remember one of the aims of the charge is to reduce vehicle numbers. Finally, extending the scheme to greater London, where a first step might be to have a London weighted VED, designed in the first instance to get London residents to switch to lower emission vehicles and/or public transport. But that last one might not be a vote winner..
The statements by London’s chief planning officer are interesting, but is he speaking for Boris? or can he actually deliver what he is saying?