A press release by London Councils (formerly known as the Association of London Government) yet again highlights that Ken's plans for a Low Emission Zone, aren't a green as he makes them out to be.
The plans, to charge high polluting vehicles to enter London, will bring virtually no added improvements to the capital's air quality despite costing around £600 million to introduce and enforce.
In Ken's defence he has quoted figures supplied by TfL, which show that the LEZ, would overall improve London's air quality by 11.6%, by 2010. All very credible, but he has so far failed to mention how this 11.6% is achieved.
However, in the same set of TfL figures it also does show that of the 11.6% forecast improvement in London's air quality, 11.3% will be achieved simply as a result of new European standards on emission levels for new vehicles, in that timescale.
So, that begs the question why is Ken so willing to spend £600million on just a 0.3% improvement on air quality, or is he simply attempting to continue his war on motorists by imposing yet another stealth tax and hiding it behind a green issue.
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There's a good reason for this. As London is exceeding the EU air quality limits, Livingstone has no choice but to put in serious scheme that attempts to reduce pollution (that's nasties, not Co2). If he didn't he would have been fined on a yearly basis by the EU, as far as I can make out.
It won't work, of course. The problem (Nitrogen Dioxide and Particulates) in central London is caused by black cabs and buses in the main as well as older trucks and white vans.
Still, maybe the investment will keep the EU at bay a little longer. That and the erection of ANPR cameras around the edge of Greater London as part of this scheme is also another step towards tolling all the main roads into London as specified in the supplemental tolls bill...
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